


When The Crown Calls

by NutheadGee



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blowjobs, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, Dominant Kylo Ren, Emperor!Kylo, F/M, Finn/Rey - Freeform, Finnrey, Humour, Rey is a Skywalker, Romance, Sarcasm, Smut, Some Fluff, Some angst, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-10-07 17:26:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 55,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10365765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NutheadGee/pseuds/NutheadGee
Summary: Your father, considered the greatest general in the empire had passed away. He had served the first emperor, and the second emperor, Kylo Ren, both powerful Force users until his honorary death. He had been replaced by an elitist snob, General Armitage Hux, who despised you because your mother was part of the middle class and not nobility. The feeling was mutual, and when he immediately developed a bond with the Senior Adviser, Snoke, who you equally despised because of his questionable connection to Plapatine, the adviser that was there during the first emperor's reign, you animosity for then ran deeper.The Emperor and his family, however, need you. His mother and his uncle sense the military strategic brilliance that made your father what he was, and that coupled with your fierce passion to protect the local people, would make you a very valuable asset since they, like you, also never trusted the new general and adviser.Everything was going perfectly fine, until you were bombarded with the emperor's sex appeal, and his family's (with assistance from your mother) attempts at making you his empress. Not like this.





	1. Transition to a New Life

Your mother was sniffling. She was probably still crying, but you doubted she had any more tears left to shed at this point. You couldn’t blame her, if you were honest. You were pretty emotionally exhausted from all the crying you had done yourself. You didn’t even have the strength to be angry, and you and your mother,  _ especially  _ your mother had a lot to be angry about if the events that had happened in the recent past were anything to go by.

“Mama, would you like to sit?” You whispered to her. The weather was not appropriate for a funeral. It had been raining since last night, and even though it had been drizzling on and off throughout the week and it had been slightly chilly, it was exceptionally cold today, and there was a steady, heavy shower going on.

“No. I’m fine. It’s just the Emperor’s speech left, then we just go thank him, his mother, his uncle, his cousin and his brother in-law, then I we can go home. Another two hours according to schedule. I’ll be fine.” Her voice was hoarse, but very quiet and very timid, ver  _ defeated _ . Your father’s death had affected her a lot more than you thought.

You nodded, pulling her closer to you, feeling the hilt of your father’s Takoba digging through your hip. Your mother slumped against you, and her emotional weariness slightly overwhelmed you as well. She truly needed a break, and you hoped she would get it after this whole ceremony, a ceremony both of you thought was unnecessary.

Alas, your father was a General, the greatest, apparently, who had fought both beside the current Emperor and his grandfather, the former Emperor, so the Royal family had declared two days of mourning, all flags of all planets were to be flown at half mast and they would cover all the costs and arrangements of the funeral.

When everyone had finally assembled in front of the grave, facing both it and the Royal family and their special guests’ tent, the Emperor walked up. He was in his full combat gear,black from head to toes, his long robes covering his pants, his boots squelching softly in the water that had leaked up to the part of the stage that was open. He also had his helmet and his hood on, his crown levitating slightly above his head. Very few people knew what he looked like under that helmet, your late father being one of them.

A pity he was the one being currently buried, dead in the line of duty before he could tell you what his majesty looked like.

The stadium was packed, and all the major international media houses were on Coruscant for your father’s funeral service to televise it for those that could not make it to watch it live, and also for all the other planets.

“I would first of all like to once again send my deepest condolences to the Late General’s widow and his daughter, who politely declined to join us in our tent for this service. Respecting their wishes I will not point out where they are, but I would just like to let them know that they are welcome to the palace to see me or any member of the royal family any time they would like. I will gladly help them in any way I can, considering the services the General did for the empire.”

There was a loud, but sombre applause for about a minute, before he continued with his speech. As he was addressing the nation you felt unease, as if there was an invisible hand ghosting up and down your skin. You tried to ignore it, but the feeling of trepidation could never go away. You looked up, behind his majesty and to the left of the Empress Mother, and a sudden chill seized you, right down to your bone marrow. You suspected it was the Force, and you strongly suspected it was released by ano one of the people around you.

He was staring at you, right at you, his face so disfigured you were unable to figure out what true emotion he was trying to display on his face. His dark beady eyes stared at you through his heavily scarred face, and you weren’t sure whether they were covered with wrinkles or scars. Your heart beat tripled when you caught his gaze, and the sheer terror that ran down your whole body almost made you look away, drop your gaze, but you refused. You felt your face twist into a frown, and he raised his eyebrows slightly, probably surprised at the pure animosity no doubt displayed on your face.

Senior advisor Snoke. He was apparently very close to the royal family, having been brought in highly recommended by his mentor, former senior advisor Palpatine. You, however, never liked him. Neither did your parents. You father always told you to be careful around him, and your mother always regarded him with cold, distant respect. He was well aware that very few people were fond of him, but he didn’t care, because his only allegiance was to power.

You saw him lean slightly to his left, to start whispering something to the new General, Hux. You weren’t sure of his first name, and you weren’t particularly interested, but what you knew about him was that he was an elitist snob who held you in low regard because he could never understand how your father, an entire general, would fall in love with your mother, a farmer. He also never understood why you wouldn’t just leave your mother to toil in the farm and join the ladies in the palace. With your father’s legacy surely you would be able to do something more useful with your life rather than remain a  _ farmer.  _ He seems to have promptly forgotten that half the ladies in the house despised you because of your race, and the fact that, like him, you were well educated but decided to stay in the farm with your mother.

You even had whispers going on that you only chose the farm because the whispers of your black ancestors called you there, that that was all your kind was good at, promptly forgetting that your father, considered the most brilliant general the Kingdom has ever produced, was very much black.

Then again, intelligence wasn’t the strongest suite of most of the ladies of court.

Your musings were interrupted when you saw General Hux mouth something at you. Taking this opportunity to be petty and remind him and his ally there how much you despised them, you raised an eyebrow, before rolling your eyes and turning your gaze back to your mother, who was shading you because she had seen the entire interaction.

“Be careful, Salama. Those men are dangerous. Do not rouse their suspicion any more that you have.” Her voice had a foreboding quality to it.

“Don’t worry about me, mama,” you responded, adjusting her scarf over her and the umbrella over both of you. “I’ll be fine.”

You looked back up, and both of them were still staring at you. You gave them one last scathing glare, before you felt your mother shake a bit, quieting her sneeze. You thought it was time to go home. The emperor seemed to have finished his speech. You communicated this to your mother, and she agreed. You turned around, excusing yourself as you passed through people, making sure to put your head down so that no one would recognise either of you.

You walked as briskly as your mother and the rain could allow you until home. All the way you couldn’t help but feel very conscious of the sword against your hip, hidden beneath your suit. One of your father’s men had brought it back to you after his death because your mother was too traumatised to take it, so you cleaned it, and you constantly kept it on your person whenever practical. It was all you had left of him, and you swore that you’d keep it safe from  _ anyone _ , and that you would protect your mum with it, because that is what he would have wanted.

You helped your mum out of her clothes and proceeded to go warm her dinner. You tidied up the house as she ate, making sure to put on her heater in her room and close the door as you went to finish up your dinner and cleaning up for the day. On your way back to your room you turned to your mum’s room, clenching your fists with conviction. You would die for her. At that moment you swore to yourself no harm would befall her as long as you were alive.

…

“Hey, big sis, I bet you can’t catch me before we get back to the settlement,” Babu yelled enthusiastically in your ethnic language, slightly ahead of you and the rest of the children.

You laughed after him, as you bent down and lifted up Amani, carrying her because she seemed tired. She immediately rested her small head onto your shoulder, trying to regulate her breathing.

“Of course I can’t right now. I’m carrying Amani because she’s tired. She actually managed to walk all the way this time to come and pick you up and you just want to exhaust her and you know she’s younger than you and doesn’t have the same energy as you, and now is when you decide you want to race?” You responded, taking a moment to glance behind you ensuring that you hadn’t left anyone behind.

Babu immediately turned back and ran back to both of you, taking your hand that wasn’t carrying the little girl, who by now was napping on your shoulder. The other children ran around and laughed and played and bantered with each other around you, and you made sure to keep an eye out for them, occasionally doing a roll call on them when you couldn’t see them in your immediate line of sight.

It was about a fortnight after the funeral. Things seemed to be going somewhat back to normal, and up until this point in time the Royal family had neither gotten in touch with you or your mother, something both of you were grateful for. Your mum had taken another two days to privately mourn, and you had, admittedly, spent the nights up yourself, sobbing quietly into your pillow. You knew that his pension would be enough to support the both of you until your respective ends, but you just wanted to have a chance to see him again. To share your literary discussion and play strategy games together and just take pictures of your parents together. You just wanted to see that warm smile on both their faces, and now that one of them was gone, you’d been robbed of that opportunity altogether.

You managed to get all the children home on time, ensuring every child was in their own home with their parents, before going home yourself. You made it a point to pass by a few homes yourself, greeting neighbours and other members of your local community before getting home. Your mum had just finished making dinner for the two of you and she was just cleaning up the kitchen and all the pans and spoons she had used for cooking.

You served food for both of you, as you made your mum smile with your stories about the children. Her smile wasn’t as bright as normal, but you were just happy that she was  _ smiling. _

“You know it’s inevitable before-” she choked, unable to even finish the statement. She put her fork on her plate, putting her food on the table and dissolving into sobs, her shoulders heaving as she cried quietly into her sleeve. Your heart ached seeing her like this, always thinking about the inevitable. She never knew about the promise you made to yourself, you hadn’t told her about it because you doubted she’d believe you.

Nonetheless you put your food on the table, next to hers and went to sit next to her on her couch, pulling her into your body for an embrace. She clutched onto you, holding you like a lifeline, her hands fisting into your shirt, as she went from sobbing into her sleeve to sobbing into your shirt. You lay your head on her hair, rubbing her back soothingly, trying to calm her down. You hated seeing your mama like this, but she was right. You both knew it. It had been a fortnight. It was happening soon.

Just then, when your mother finally calmed down, there was some commotion outside, the lively chatter that was characteristic at this time not being heard. Your mama immediately got up, rushing into her bedroom to grab the Takoba from it’s hiding place. You in turn rushed towards the front door, waiting and hoping you didn’t need to resort to a brawl, hoping that even if it was an attacker, you would lure them away from the settlement, more towards the inner parts of the city where you would lose them, or if they wanted combat, you would lure them to your allies and provide them with the combat they wanted.

Your mum threw the sword at you, and you quickly tied it to your waist, covering it with your shoal, before there was a gentle but firm knock on the door, and it sounded like it was made of metal. Your mother stood a two or so feet behind you, eyes red rimmed and swollen, but firm. She nodded once, and you opened the door.

Ah. So it was time.

“Miss Salama Oreno,” a feminine voice from a heavy, but fantastic suit of armour spoke to you. Whoever that was inside the armour paused, as if they were waiting for your response.

“Speaking,” you said, nerves making you almost snap.

“My name is Phasma, and I am Captain of the Emperor’s Guard. His Majesty Emperor Kylo Ren and her Royal Highness, the Empress Mother, request your presence at the Royal Palace this evening.”

You looked the tall figure in the armour. “Did they tell you why they want to speak to me now?”

The figure nodded. “My apologies, but no. I did not enquire why they wanted to see you. The Empress mother did make it very clear that it is urgent..”

You turned around to look at your mother. Her face was set in stone, her resolve absolute. She nodded at you imperceptibly. Your mouth was set in a firm line. You had also made a decision, a promise.

You turned back to the figure. “Please go inform the Royal Family that I will only be attending this meeting if they allow my mother to accompany me.”

In normal circumstances, no, in  _ all  _ circumstances your mama would have immediately lashed out at you, yelled your name and walked right up at you and slapped some sense into you. However, she knew you  _ very  _ well, and she probably knew you would pull this stunt off. You could  _ feel  _ her judging you.

“The Emperor will not be pleased,” the voice warned. You swallowed, remembering how you father had told you the current Emperor had inherited his father’s terrible temper.

“Perhaps,” you responded, your voice quiet. You saw some of the figure’s men stiffen behind them. “But if the Royal Family has something of substance to tell me, they would not approach me in the evening hours, expecting me to leave my mother alone, defenseless in the night.”

“That is the reason I came with my men. They will protect your mother as you are at the Royal Palace. The Emperor sent his own guard to see to her security. I can assure you that she will be well protected.”

You nodded. You had come across the Captain of the King’s guard with your father. This was your first time interacting with them, but even from afar you saw that they took their job very seriously, and you were sure they would never slack on their duties. Your father had assured you that the King’s Guard, together with their Captain was a very competent force.

“I am aware of this, Captain, and I would like you to understand that I don’t distrust either you or your men. I distrust your superiors who sent you here to come collect me in the evening, knowing very well that I would most likely decline to leave my mother behind.”

The Captain paused for a moment, but the slight straightening of their back informed you that they understood  _ exactly  _ what message you were trying to convey to them.

“I will inform them of your answer.” They bowed.

“Thank you,” you responded, refraining from smiling. Once again, your father was right.

You turned back to your mama, closing the door. She immediately run into your arms. “My baby,” she whispered, as you returned her embrace. “I was always scared that he would leave me forever, but I’m so glad,  _ so glad _ that you took so much after him. I know you will succeed.”

“Thank you mama. I will try my best,” you responded.

Alas, the crown was calling.


	2. The First Meeting

As both you and your mama predicted, this issue had deteriorated far faster and more dangerously than you had anticipated.

“Senior adviser Snoke. General Hux. Good morning. How may I assist you?” You asked pleasantly, smiling at them. A small section in the middle top of your head in a small afro as the rest of your newly plaited box braids surrounded the rest of your head and fell down to your shoulders. You had a towel around your shoulders, a traditional shoal covering your torso and wearing your father’s boxers.

However, she was also right when she said that when people wanted to be unnecessarily difficult, you could always be petty in response, and as much as you knew you would definitely get in trouble for this, as far as you were concerned, it was more than worth it.

Appalled couldn’t begin to describe what the two  _ esteemed gentlemen  _ were feeling. The General, despite his straight face had a slight dusting of red on his cheekbones and his ears, looking you right in the eye, not daring to drop his gaze out of sheer will power, something, your father once told you, he had in spades and spades. The Senior Advisor, with his mangled face was definitely frowning at you, the disapproval pouring off of him in waves, and you could also tell from his body language that he was slightly flustered. 

You could honestly get used to this.

You and your mama knew the Captain of the Guard had delivered your message, and you also both trusted both the General and the senior adviser would definitely read through the lines and understand what it was you were telling them, and you definitely predicted that they would come for you, this early in the morning as a form of subtle intimidation. Clearly they had failed to understand who your father was, and he was aware of the kinds of individuals they were, and he had warned you about them and armed you with the only skill that you would forever hide from them: information.

“M-Miss Oreno,” the General begun. “Apologies for interrupting you in your, um, state of dress. I did not expect you to be this unprepared for the day.”

Your smile widened, dripping with sweetness. “Well, General, it  _ is -”  _ you looked at your watch “- five o’clock in the morning. Not many people are ready to receive guests at this hour, don’t you agree?”

He said nothing, instead choosing to look everywhere else but at you. You had cornered him and he knew it.

“That aside, we would like you to accompany us to the Royal Palace. His majesty the Emperor, her highness the Empress Mother and his highness the Emperor Uncle would like to have a word with you,” Senior Advisor Snoke said smoothly, his diplomatic skills coming in strong.

You narrowed your eyes, standing straight, pulling your shoulders back and crossing your arms under your bust under your shawl. “No member of the Royal family is awake at this hour. If you have something to tell either myself or my mother tell us here and now. Otherwise not only does my mother have to finish making my hair, but I also have errands to run, so you do have to wait.”

Snoke’s nostrils flared out, but when he spoke his voice was still calm. “Again, the General and I apologise for visiting you this early in the morning, but this is an urgent matter. None of the Royal family members were pleased at the message that Captain Phasma brought to us, and they will not be pleased when you fail to turn up today. They have a very urgent message to deliver to you.”

You narrowed your eyes, opening your mouth ready to give them a piece of your mind.

“Salama,” your mother said sharply behind you, a verbal slap to the back of your head.

“Then why are you so hesitant to give this allegedly urgent news?” you asked instead, surprised that you could keep your irritation out of your voice.

Snoke was silent. After a staredown that lasted a few seconds, he turned around and left, Hux following behind him. You turned around and closed the door behind you. You looked at your mother and she sighed deeply, her weariness coming through and the dark circles under her eyes now more visible than ever.

You let the tears flow down your cheeks. Just as the crown called for your father, it was now calling for you, and you weren’t sure whether or not you were ready.

…

“I don’t trust them, mama. Not at all. I wouldn’t trust them with a roadside pebble,” you said, as you finally straightened a picture of your grandmother on the wall to your mother’s satisfaction.

“I know, my child, which is why you should be extremely careful with them. They are aware of how distrustful you are of them, and they are also aware of how gifted you are at military strategy like your father, so they know you can read them a lot easier than most,” she responded, turning to you and adjusting an errant braid.

“I wonder if they know that you are excellent with the Takoba.”

You said nothing, wondering the same.

“I’m aware they suspect it, but how sure are they?”

Silence. “I don’t know, mama.”

She ran the back of her fingers over your cheek. “Make sure they never know.” You nodded, before you heard a gentle knock on the door. Your mum continued dusting the place, as you went on to answer the door.

You nearly fell over backwards, when you saw who had come to visit you, with her husband behind her, playing with Babu and the other children.

“Y-Your majesty,” you managed to stutter, starting to bow before catching yourself and doing a hasty curtsy. “I’m very sorry. Please forgive me. I never expected you to come all the way. Oh my goodness, so Sno-er, Senior Advisor Snoke and General Hux  _ were  _ right. I really should have listened,” you babbled, looking behind to your mother for help. She hurried toward the door, smiling warmly to the Former Emperor’s other Grandchild, her Grace, Rey and Her Husband, his Grace, Finn.

Her Grace smiled at you, before looking behind her and calling her husband, who came over carrying little Amani, making her giggle as he made faces at her.

“Hello. I truly apologise for coming in so abruptly without giving you any prior notice, but I just wanted to tell you something. I hope you both don’t mind?”

You mama shook her head. “Of course not, your Grace. Please, do come inside.” She turned to you. “Salama, go get her Grace and his Grace some tea.”

You were already on your heel, walking briskly to the kitchen to begin preparing the tea. Your mother brought the royal guests in and sat them in the sitting room. They made some light small talk as they probably waited for you and the tea.

You brought the tea and served them, before both of them became serious again. His Grace is the one that started the conversation. “I’m going to be blunt. We are aware that Snoke and Hux came to visit you this morning, after they sent the Captain of the Guard to come and try to get you to come first. We’d like you to know, first of all, that as much as the Emperor, his mother and his uncle, my father-in-law  _ do  _ want to see you, it’s not as urgent as these two make it seem. They just want to see you to discuss your father’s legacy and if you will be willing to replace him as general. The Emperor’s mother knows that your father taught you how to fight with the Takoba, and she trusts you to continue the legacy, if you feel obligated to. No one will force you into the role.”

Externally, your face was neutral, looking at his Grace and nodding slowly at his words, but you were internally panicking. You weren’t particularly sure you were ready to take over where your father left off, though you knew he’d be training you for it, probably because he knew his time was almost up for some reason. He never rushed, hurried or pressured you, but he always noted that you were picking up really quickly, and the night before he died you remembered him telling you that you had absorbed everything he had to teach you and the rest was up to you. You had no idea what he meant by that, but somehow you trusted him enough that you would figure it out eventually, that there were some lessons he couldn’t teach you, you’d have to come across them and learn then yourself. 

You looked at your mother. She never said anything, just kept looking at the young couple in front of you. She was probably aware of this information. Nonetheless, Rey continued on.

“Both Snoke and Hux are aware that both of you don’t trust them, and to be quite frank, we don’t blame you, because we don’t trust them either. Nobody in the Royal Family trusts them: not my aunt, not my father and not the Emperor himself. They are both very secretive and seem to have this air of superiority that they are better than everyone else because of their social class. There is also the issue of Snoke’s nefarious past. Not many people know about it, and I suppose it’s the reason why it’s a little difficult to remove him from that post. It’s just been a decade since the last battle to consolidate our empire, and even now some planets are still revolting. I understand that we aren’t the most efficient, but we’re really trying. Kylo’s really trying. He’s still quite young from an Emperor and he just lost his general. It is a little difficult for him, but for some reason I feel that this Snoke character doesn’t have the empire’s interests at heart. I can feel it in the force, and though my aunt and my father and he are Force sensitive and can understand it, it is difficult to explain it to the masses.”

You nodded in understanding. None  of your parents were Force sensitive, but you knew the concepts and theories around it and how it worked.

“Snoke, in particular, believes you were brainwashed by your father. He has been trying to convince us all that you are not going to listen to reason and you are not willing to learn how things are run in the empire. I think he is slightly intimidated that just like Palpatine was unable to manipulate your father, he won’t be able to manipulate you. None of us know what he is up to, but we do know that he has ulterior motives and that he has somehow managed to rope Hux into them as well. We just want you to know that Rey and I are behind you one hundred percent. Your father was a phenomenal man, and I don’t say that because he made me into the warrior I am today. I say that because I know it was true. I didn’t need to plant spies to follow him around to know that everything he did he did for the people,” Finn finished.

Rey stood up to join him and she smiled brightly at you both. “We just wanted to reassure you. We know you don’t trust those two, and you’re not alone. We will support you in any decision you’ll make, and we just wanted you to be aware of all these before you come to see the Emperor later. Both Finn and I think you’ll be put in a position where you have to make very important decisions, and we think this information will be of help. “ She turned to you. “May I speak to you privately please, Salama?” she asked. 

You nodded, inclining your head slightly towards the the corridor that led to your bedrooms.

“What is the matter, Your Grace?” you asked, thankful that your voice came out calm to hide your nerves. You were literally falling apart inside.

She took your hands into hers. “I know you worry for your mum, and I can’t blame you. She’s all you have left at this point, and she is growing older and soon won’t be able to work on the farm, which, if I’m not mistaken, is her only source of income. I also know that it won’t be particularly easy to convince her to leave the farm immediately, but Finn and I are willing to have someone take care of the farm for her on her behalf later. I’ll also talk to Kylo to have protection afforded from her. Snoke and Hux are bold, but they aren’t stupid. If Kylo decreed that your mum is to have twenty four hour security from his guard, no one will be able to approach her that easily, because Snoke is a bully and he  _ would  _ try to use your mum to unnerve you.”

She looked at you waiting for you to respond. You just nodded, words having escaped you at that point and squeezing her hand for reassurance.

“I just wanted to tell you that we got you.”

“Thank you, your Grace,” you managed to choke out after your brain rediscovered what speech was and how it worked. “Thank you very much. I truly appreciate it.”

She pulled you in for a quick hug, and for a second your arms were awkwardly hanging in the air because you weren’t expecting it and you didn’t even know how to react, but you eventually wrapped your arms around her and hugged her back. She gently pulled away from you before giving you another quick reassuring smile and joining her husband who was at the main door with your mum. You mum locked the door and walked towards you.

“I trust you’ll make the right decision, and I’ll support you in whatever it is,” she said quietly as she stood on her toes to adjust your braids into your bun properly. “I promised your father I would stand by him, so I think it is now time to stand promise to stand by you.”

You sighed shakily, revealing your nerves to your mum, the only person you allowed yourself to be vulnerable to.

“Thank you, mama,” you responded, smiling as you felt the tears go down your face. She lifted her hand to wipe them off, and you leaned into her touch. “Thank you.”

It was going to be a difficult evening.

…

You were required in one of the personal conference rooms in the palace, and luckily for you, you knew just where it was, considering how many times you had come here with your father. You were dressed simply in traditional wear: a sleeveless long shirt, trousers and leather sandals. You had a shawl covering your shoulders and  a beautiful silk wrap covering your hair. You chose a light blue, because it contrasted well with your dark skin. You made sure to politely greet the guards on every door as you walked by with their Captain.

You never failed to notice the fake smiles of the high ranking ladies you passed by, most of them around your age, trying to get the Emperor’s attention and scheming to get into his bed. For them it was a competition, there was no friendship with any of them, as they all had their ultimate goal and they would do  _ anything  _ to achieve it. Some of them even tried to greet you, and you ignored them, already hearing all the insults that would be coming your way in the near future. You didn’t care, because honestly, you were not here to make any friends. You shared absolutely nothing in common with either of them, and you were sure you’d heard some slurs thrown your way.

Eventually, you reached the door, and the Captain (her name was Phasma) left you, wishing you luck and continuing on her way to her patrols. This was it. Your life was going to change substantially from here on out.

You took a deep breath, and opened the door and walked it. It was now or never.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm real petty, and I have already planned who the most annoying ladies of court are gonna be, and I honestly can't wait to intro them to you and torture them.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all to everyone who's already read/lurked/left kudos/expressed interest in this story. Your responses fuel my passion for writing!


	3. Legacies and the Four Stooges

“Good afternoon, Salama. Please have a seat,” the emperor said, his deep, distorted voice sounding odd when he wasn’t talking through a microphone. He gestured to an empty chair in front of him.

You hadn’t even fully walked into the room, in front if the whole Royal family, before you were asked to seat in front of them. You mumbled a quiet thank you, before you closed the massive  door behind you and walked towards where the rest of them were sitting, hands demurely clasped in front of your laps.

The conference room had been rearranged, and instead of the usual massive wooden table and high chairs, with poufs all around the walls and guards standing on every corner and by every window, there five very comfortable, large, beanbag poufs, around a beautifully carved wooden and glass coffee table. The wooden floor was also looked like it had been polished, as it looked a lot brighter than it normally was. The curtains had been closed, and instead the chandelier above gave a soft and warm glow over the table, which was covered with cookies, pastries and some wonderfully smelling coffee.

The whole family was there: the Emperor himself and his parents, his aunt, his cousin and his cousin’s husband. It was very intriguing to you because of how the crown passed down to each generation. You remembered it because your father had explained it to you during the coronation six years prior. 

_ “Our society is matriarchal in nature, where the crown passes down in line through the women, but it’s the men that rule. So in this instance, His Majesty’s grandfather was the first Emperor, and it was his mother that crowned him, for it is his mother that the crown gravitated towards, something very many people do not understand because she wasn’t Force Sensitive, but His Majesty Himself was considered one of the most powerful Force users alive. He had a daughter and a son, and when both of them got married, there were hopes that the then arch duchess, or the Empress Mother as she’s now called, would produce an heir. If not then, her heiress would rule in her stead. Luckily, she had a son, and he immediately became next in line, and since he didn’t have a sister, it was Archduchess Rey who everyone is now looking to for an heir or heiress.” _

He also explained to you how Finn, the son of a duke, and archduchess Rey fell in love before he could ascend to dukedom, and even if he was married to her and his son would probably end up being his ruler, he still kept his dukedom and his title, because it is what he wanted. He felt like he had an obligation to the kingdom and his people, and he should not just be reduced to “the father of an emperor”, which, in all honestly, was something you could get behind.

However, what surprised you more than anything was that the emperor’s  _ father,  _ Han Solo was around. He was simply an explorer-trader, known for both his legal and his questionable trades. Both your parents, in extreme amusement, informed you of just how he and archduchess Leia met and fell in love, and how much scandal there was, particularly in court, when they decided to get married. Not only did he refuse to take on any titles (and was perfectly content with being referred to simply as “the father of the emperor”), but he strongly insisted on continuing his trading and exploring, but now he was strictly within legal trades. Apparently the former emperor really tried to talk archduchess Leia out of the relationship, but he realised that she much more similar to him than people realised, and she bluntly refused. The emperor promptly gave up, but in the long run Sir Solo, as he was now referred to, much to his irritation, was able to come through when he was needed. His rogue humour and wit also came to be a favourite among the subjects, so his reputation went from unpopular to infamous, because quite a number of nobles had been mocked for the entertainment of the masses.

You moved to sit down on the empty chair, the same side as Archduke Finn and Archduchess Rey. The Empress Mother, the Emperor himself, Sir Solo and Archduke Luke were seated on the opposite side of you three, everyone in casual wear except the Emperor, who was still in his Royal garb, minus his crown which was sitting on his mother’s lap. The emperor sighed, the distorted sound by his vocoder sounding weird, for lack of a better word, before he sat up straight and moved to remove his helmet.

You were slightly surprised, not expecting him to do that at all, as he gripped it, his thumbs under it, around where his jaw was supposed to be. Not very many people had seen what the previous emperor looked liked, including yourself, though due to your father’s position as general he had shown you some pictures, but you had never had the opportunity to see what the current emperor looked like. It seemed like you would be part of the privileged few to actually see him.

After a variety of clicks and a hiss, the helmet, sounded like it was decompressing, was finally taken off, and you very nearly choked on the juice you were drinking.

The emperor was  _ very handsome. _

He was pale, with a prominent nose and full lips, freckles and moles peppered all over his face. His hair was very dark, long and thick, the tips just brushing the tops of his shoulders. He looked a lot younger than you initially though, and for some reason your brain was still not getting over just how attractive he was.

He leaned forward, his deep brown eyes looking right at you, almost through you. “Thank you for coming. There are some things we need to discuss with you, though we all wouldn’t mind if you wanted to postpone this and bring your mother alone. I know how close you are to her now, especially after your father’s passing.”

Your mouth was dry, and you couldn’t quite figure out why.

“No, no. We both truly appreciate your consideration, but we both feel we need to discuss this and get this out of the way as soon as possible. I’m quite sure you feel the same way,” you responded quietly, feeling like a twelve year old girl approaching her crush the first time.

In a way,  you did feel like a preteen talking to her slightly older crush. You hadn’t expected the emperor to be this you, or even this  _ attractive,  _ and you weren’t afraid to admit to yourself that it was making you feel things, very inappropriate things in very inappropriate palces.

You’d die before admitting that anyone else, though.

“I see,” he said, raising an eyebrow at you. “In any case, I believe it’s time we started. I’m aware that Rey and Finn went to see you yesterday, and I am also aware, painfully so, that you don’t trust my senior advisor and my general.”

“I’ll try to be more subtle about it. I promise.”

The words came out of your mouth before you could stop them, and the moment you realised what you had said, blatantly patronizing some of the highest ranking and most powerful political figures in the emire, your eyes immediately widened and you clasped your hand on your mouth. “Oh my goodness, your majesty! Forgive me. I am so sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to say that. I will be sure to apologise to them immediately after this meeting,” you babbled, not quite noticing the smirk he had on his face.

Hot lust dropped right into your cunt when you promptly recognised, and your face immediately heated up because your emperor was  _ not  _ supposed to be inducing lust in you. Now you could somewhat understand why those brainless ladies of the court acted the way they did. It never excused it, but you could see where they were coming from.

“No need, Salama. Your distrust is completely justifiable. I’m just not in a position to remove them from office because it will cause a political instability, and your enemies are waiting for that for them to strike. I wouldn’t want to subject the people to any more war than was necessary.”

You immediately looked away, still embarrassed. It was also just then that you realised the entire royal family was still there, as you were so enraptured by his highness’ presence. He was extremely...compelling.

“Anyway, I’m sure you have an idea as to why we called you here today,” he asked, getting right back into business. You nodded.

“I would like to offer you a job as my main strategist. You’ll be working closely with senior advisor Snoke and General Hux, however, they will not act on anything without my express authorisation, which will come from the information you give me. You will objectively analyse everything they bring for you, and then you will bring that information to me. If you have any suspicions on anything they tell you you have all the right to go out and conduct your own information. Your strategy expertise will be both applied in battle and in public policy. I would have made you a general  as well, but I am yet to see your combat prowess.”

You nodded again, mentally noting it’s the same position that your father held prior to his death. “I’d like to inform you that I am very honoured to be offered this position, but just out of curiosity, did you not think that there would be other candidates suitable to the position?”

Everyone in the room looked at you, and you thought that they perhaps did not think about that.

“I-well, there were some suggestions brought about by Snoke and Hux, however, Kylo, Finn and Rey here don’t trust them at all. It’s understandable why they feel the way they feel - Snoke hasn’t exactly been for policies that are for everyone, and Hux is just an elitist so he doesn’t understand some of the struggles of the less privileged - and for the sake of peace we thought that we should give them a pass,” Archduke Luke said, no doubt the most diplomatic of the family, according to what your father told you.

“I did do some private investigations though, and it has come to my attention that one of the candidates was Force-sensitive and both of them came from the Academy that Palpatine set up to “spread the empire's ideology” which I believe was just an excuse to spread  _ his  _ ideology, but that’s a discussion for another time,” Archduchess Leia added, not even bothering to hide her contempt.

“ _ You,  _ however, have a very impressive background, education and portfolio, and we are sure that you embody all the values that your father stood for, which inevitably led both him and the empire to greatness, which is why Finn and Rey strongly suggest we offer the position to you first. Of course, you have the choice of whether to accept or deny it, but we truly hope that you will join us in the empire’s administration.”

The emperor’s voice was very smooth, very convincing, and only your parents’ respective voices of always giving your time to think over any offers you got, particularly offers that seemed very much in your favour.

Offers like this one.

You inclined your head deeply. “Thank you very much once again, but I ask for some time to think about this and consult with my mother, specifically twenty four hours. I will be sure to get back to you in that time,” you said slowly, not quite expecting what their reactions would be.

None of them seemed particularly excited or offended. All of them were quite neutral, you could even dare say they were indifferent, because it was quite obvious that they expected this response from you. Your close relationship to your mother was no secret to them.

The emperor, however, smiled warmly at you. “Of course. Take your time. We expect to see you here, in this exact room, tomorrow with your answer.”

You nodded again, before standing up and bowing deeply and walking out. You had a lot of thinking to do.

…

You knew your life was going to change the moment you left the royal palace, but you didn’t expect it to change this drastically, or for the change to be negative.

Your father had told you, irritated look on his face and an irritated inflection in his voice about the ladies of the court.

Your mother had told you, contemptuous look on her face and a contemptuous inflection in her voice, about the ladies of the court.

You never quite doubted them because you had come across them in the streets, but you thought that perhaps they were exaggerating a little bit because they were quite extra. However, as you were here, standing before them, the four wealthiest, most privileged and most problematic ones, you realised that perhaps your parents weren’t exaggerating at all.

Heather, Kayla, Molly and Claire. All of them daughters of certain marquises, and all of them not what you would expect having a good time would feel like.

All things considered, they looked absolutely stunning, with very expensive dresses, perfectly done hair and perfectly done make up. Sometimes you wished you had the privilege to dress and behave like this for most of the day, but alas you had to help your mother out on the farm and help out the rest of the community with taking care of the younger children. If you wanted you could also indulge yourself in the  inane activities of the Coruscant upper class, but you thought that kind of lifestyle was exceptionally boring. There was nothing to do, no friendships to forge and nothing could really challenge you intellectually. The only people who came close were perhaps the Royal Family, and you doubted the Royal family had time to indulge you in mental stimulations when they had an empire to run.

Kayla, their leader, stepped forward, trying to intimidate you. It would have worked, if she didn’t reach your cheeks. She stared up at you, her, thin lips even thinner, enabling you to see the little lipstick on it.

“What have you been telling his majesty?” she asked, her intimidating points falling substantially at her screechy voice. You almost winced.

“Important things that involve the state. You know, strategy and working closely with him and the Royal family to continue my father’s legacy,” you responded, your voice flat. You raised your eyebrow when you saw the puzzled look on her face.

“What does that have to do with you?” one of her minions asked behind her. You sighed. It was late and you didn’t have time to indulge in this foolishness today. You still had to go home and see if there was something you could help your mama with.

“Please excuse me. Unlike you, I actually have responsibilities to attend to,” you muttered, already knowing what was going to happen. Predictably, Kayla smirked.

“And if we don’t?”

Gritting your teeth and catching yourself before you said or did something detrimental, you literally ploughed into them, ignoring their shrieks as you pushed them out of the way and continued on your way.

“How  _ dare  _ you?! You will pay for this! I will see to it. My father shall know of this and-”

You left the shrieks - which one of them was it that even so distressed? - and continued on your way home. You had a lot of thinking to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise. This chapter came out a bit weird to me because I was a little out of it when writing it. I promise the next ones will be much better in quality. Nonetheless I hope you enjoy, and I would like some constructive criticism.


	4. Appointment

_ Follow your heart, my daughter. Your father’s destiny was exactly that:  _ your father’s,  _ and he seems to have very successfully fulfilled it considering that huge statue of him in the square on the main street downtown and the praises that are still sung by him.  _ You  _ however, have your own destiny to fulfill, and I am more than happy to do everything in my power to help you fulfill it. You are an intelligent young woman, and I know that you will make the right decision. Follow your heart, and I will support you. _

It was early afternoon of the following day, and you were at home, in back garden of your mother’s house, contemplating the words she told you the previous evening after you informed her of your meeting with the Royal Family. You had sat cross-legged on the grass, a mug of freshly brewed hot tea in your hands as you contemplated if the job offer by his majesty truly coincided with your destiny.

What even was your destiny?

You weren’t sure. You knew you’d eventually end up as a civil servant, and going by the amount of effort your parents put in your education, formal, informal and civil, you knew you were going to end up being a high-ranking civil servant. Your main aim was to focus on improvement of the people, and you were sure you would be well suited to working for the people because you lived amongst them and had somewhat of an idea of what was important to them, but you never quite thought you’d end up being the personal advisor of the emperor.

There was also the additional issue of your age. As much you had adequate qualifications to be a high-ranking civil servant, you doubted you had the life experience to hold such an important office as head strategist of the empire and personal adviser to the emperor. Of course you had your mother to help you out most times, but your mother would never be there for you forever, and you needed to learn how to make some tough decisions on your own, because you were one hundred percent sure you would be put in a position more than once to make such decisions, probably with a lot of lives and resources on the line.

You sighed, before you stood up, going to the kitchen and washing your cup. You collected your box braids together, made one massive plat and tied into a big bun atop your head, before tying a headscarf intricately over your head and headed out. It was time to go and have a few words with your father.

…

Your father’s grave was oddly beautiful. It was made with very fine marble, grey, with his name and date of birth inscribed on it, no fancy quote or anything else. It was very sophisticated in its simplicity, regal and straightforward, just like your father was when he was alive. He was straight with everyone, giving absolutely no bullshit to navigate around, and that was a major trait you had inherited from him as well.

One issue you had with it was that because he was afforded a state burial, his tomb was in a very public place, the state cemetery where statesmen were married. The former emperor was also buried here, and so was the first Skywalker matriarch. It was a very important place, and the public had unlimited access to it, which is why you assumed you were getting weird looks from people as you just stood in front of his marble plaque, water lily in your hand.

At least there were no members of court that were buried here yet. Since they were rich and pretentious, they didn’t want to be buried in areas where the public could access, because they had this (very wrong and very skewed) view that the populace actually  _ cared  _ about them.

You, on the other hand, didn’t care about people’s opinions on how you chose to interact with your father’s grave. Everyone knew he was your father anyway, as he was never scared or ashamed of you and your mother. You bent down, placing the water lily on the top left hand corner of the plaque. It was a beautiful day, the sky was cloudless and the sun was bright and comfortably warm. This was not a day that one would want to visit a graveyard, even one as elite as this one, but you had your reasons.

For a long moment you just stared at the grave, not knowing where to even begin, your thoughts a jumbled mess. What would your father do if he was alive? Would he accept the job offer or decline it? Would he push his limits and try to give some ultimatums? How would this affect your mother? What would you do to ensure her safety? You both knew she was at risk of attack now that you were going to be elevated from the daughter of the general to the Emperor’s advisor, a position that very many noble men and women coveted. You knew they would blame you for getting the position because your father once held it, forgetting that they currently held their positions because either one of their parents held them.

You breathed out loudly, looking at a squirrel sprint its way across the graveyard. You felt like you had been here for a while, and a quick glance at your watch confirmed that you were right. With a quick glance at your late father’s grave once more, you begun the walk back home. It wasn’t too long before you made the decision that would change your life.

…

“Thank you for coming back, Salama. We hope you have had ample time to make your decision?”

You were back to the conference room you were in the previous day, arranged just as casually, dressed in similar, traditional smart casual wear. For a high stakes decision the Royal Family really didn’t feel like there was a lot of pressure riding on this decision they had placed on your shoulders. Again, his majesty had removed his helmet, his crown levitating slightly above his thick black hair, and for the second time you couldn’t get over how compelling he was. You weren’t sure whether you wanted to run your fingers through that hair or touch his crown and see what would happen. You knew he was holding it over his head with the Force, and it really fascinated you how he was able to do that so effortlessly. You knew the theory behind the mysterious Force and how it worked, but when your father was explaining it to you he made it seem like you needed to put in some form of effort when manipulating it.

His highness, however, seemed to be doing it so effortlessly, balancing it over his head as he was holding a conversation between you and his family.

There was something slight that brushed against your cheek, and you quickly turned around towards it, your hand on your face after slightly slapping yourself. You heard Her Grace Archduchess Rey giggle, as you saw her husband Archduke Finn withdraw his hand, and with it the serviette he had used to brush with your face back to his hand.

“Your Grace,” you sighed, a small smile on your face when you saw Archduke Luke and the Empress mother giggle themselves.

“Focus, Salama. We’ve been trying to get your attention for the past several seconds but you keep staring at Kylo's crown like it will give you the answers to life itself.”

You scratched the back of your head nervously. “I’m sorry, but all I know of the Force is all the theory my father taught me. I’ve never actually seen it in action, and it just seems so fascinating to me. I apologise if I get a little carried away at times,” you mumbled, looking at your lap, slightly embarrassed.

“Not to worry. The Force is fascinating, even for us who use it,” the Empress mother said, and it was then that you noticed you were the only one in the room that could not use the Force.

“I think that we should get back to the reason why I’m here though,” you said, getting back to the point at hand. “Again, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity. After a lot of consideration, personal contemplation and consultation with my mother, I have decided to accept your offer, however, there is something I would like to request of you, your highness,” you said, your voice serious, the slight amusement from before gone.

The emperor kept his gaze trained on you, his facial expression neutral, though you could see his deep brown eyes had gotten slightly sharper, his gaze more piercing. You weren’t sure what exactly that meant in this context, but you hoped that it meant your head would stay on your shoulders. You had heard tales about his lightsaber, and though you had never seen it, you did  _ not  _ want to be on the wrong end of it, the glowy end of it.

He nodded once, informing you to continue.

“I request that my mother receives twenty four hour security for my mother. She will have no one to protect her when I will be performing duties of the state, and we both know that my family is not particularly on good terms with other families of the court, so I feel uncomfortable leaving her alone.”

You were not sure if he would take well to your request, so for a couple of tense moments, you stared right back at him, your heartbeat pounding in your eyes, trying desperately not to drop your gaze, as you felt as though his gaze was drilling through you.

“That seems like a reasonable enough request, and I see no need to decline it,” he said smoothly, neither his face nor his voice giving anything away.v”Congratulations on your new post. I look forward to working with you,” he continued, inclining his leather-gloved clad hand towards you in greeting. You took it and he shook it firmly, and you could feel the warmth of his actual hand through his glove, and it spread all over your body like electricity over copper wires.

Right at that moment, you felt footsteps along the tiled floors from the corridors outside, and two hushed voices speaking, one with a very thick, very distinctive accent, and for a split second your face contorted into a frown, before you were able to smooth it out again into indifference. This was absolutely not the time nor the place.

Senior Adviser Snoke and General Hux walked into the conference room, bowing deeply towards the Royal family. You noticed a change in the general demeanour of aforementioned Royal family, whereas before the mood was casual and happy, it was now tense and suspicious, and maybe you were biased but it probably had everything to do with the Senior Adviser and the General walking in.

“Your majesty,” Snoke begun, addressing the emperor as if everyone else in the room had vanished. You wanted to say something snarky about respect, but it wasn’t in your place, so you kept your mouth shut. You noticed, however, the looks you exchanged with Archduchess rey and Archduke Finn, and you could tell that they too, were only holding themselves back from giving their blunt opinions on these two individuals.

“I apologise for any delay. We came in as fast as we possible could.” His voice sounded nasally, and though that generally wasn’t a problem, there was something slimy about it, as if he was trying to hard to kiss ass.

He probably was.

The emperor just eyeballed him. “Assemble all the families of the court and organise a press conference within the next two hours. I’d like to announce the new state strategist to the empire,” he said, stretching out his left arm, palm open. You watched as his helmet levitated towards him, straight into his hand, and he immediately put on, his voice changing from the smooth baritone you had heard the previous evening today, to the modified, deeper version you always heard.

You noticed both of them turned their eyes to you - Hux with a bit more contempt than Snoke - and you made sure to hold both their gazes.

“Is it Miss Oreno, your majesty?”

“I wonder, out of everyone else in this room it can be, Snoke,” the emperor responded, the sarcasm clear even through his modulator.

There was a tense silence in the room for a moment.

“Your majesty, excuse my boldness, but do you really think she is suitable for the job?” General Hux asked, still eyeing you like you were a lump of poop under his heel. “She is very young, and though her qualifications and achievements are excellent, it is arguable that she got this position simply because her father held it before.”

The emperor stopped for a moment, before slowly turning towards Hux.

“Interesting you bring that argument up, General, because I have a feeling that you are conveniently forgetting that  _ you  _ inherited  _ your position  _ from your father, and you at the time, had neither any qualifications or achievements to speak of, just your father’s word. Quite frankly, you’re not in a position to speak about anyone inheriting any posts from their parents.”

The General’s face remained stony, but the tips of his ears were redder than tomatoes, and you knew that he had been called because and he had no response because after all, the emperor was correct. The General, however, exchanged a look with the Senior Adviser, and you knew there was another rebuttal to your appointment coming. Your were morbidly curious as to what they would come up with this time.

“Well, your majesty, there is another small problem.”

The emperor sat on his throne, leaning slightly forward, his robes flowing around his feet, elbows on his thighs as his hands dangled in between his legs.

“Please inform me, senior adviser.”

You only just refrained from smiling. You remembered your father once telling you that if the emperor referred to you just by your title and not by your name, then he was very much irritated at you and he was only just refraining from kicking you out of his presence.

It seemed like the senior adviser was also very aware of this, if his sudden hesitation to speak was anything to go by.

“Well, we are very aware that Miss Oreno has a very close relationship with her mother and more often than not has had to refer back to her before making important decisions. Do you think that this might be a negative influence as a local citizen - esteemed as Mrs Oreno is - should not have access to state secrets?”

The empire just eyeballed him for a few more moments. You had seen that piercing gaze, and even behind a mask it was terrifying. As much as you thoroughly despised him, you honestly applauded Snoke for looking right back at the emperor.

“I have noticed you have a very bad habit of underestimating people’s intelligence Snoke, particularly people that you deem to be better than. You think I would appoint someone who risks spreading important state secrets to local people aimlessly? Miss Oreno seeks her mother’s advice on most things - note the word I have used:  _ most,  _ not  _ all _ \- because she is young and she understands she doesn’t have the necessary life experience to go through these decisions on her own. She realises that she is dealing with people’s lives and important funds that will impact the entire nation as a whole, and though her mother is also human and is prone to make mistakes - a very normal thing to do - it will not be out of malice, greed or hubris. The fact that you have the nerve to tell me such things about Miss Preno not only underestimates her intelligence, but mine as well, and I don’t take kindly to that.”

Oh snap. Snoke, though you couldn’t see his face had it facing down, and it had been going lower and lower as emperor Kylo Ren called him out.

“I apologise, your majesty. I meant no disrespect,” he mumbled.

“I doubt it. Now, I believed I gave you some work to do?”

He bowed deeply before immediately turning around and shuffling out as fast as his old legs could carry him. You pursed your lips to prevent from smirking.

This was going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drama starts in the next chapter. I promise.
> 
> Come talk to me on [da tumblz](http://nutheadgee.tumblr.com/) .


	5. A slight confrontation and resulting thirst.

It didn’t take a long time for a press-conference to be organised. It took an even shorter time for the news that you had been appointed as the next adviser of the emperor to all the families of the court, and have them come over to witness his majesty make the national announcements. Captain Phasma was requested to go get your mother, and the emperor assured you that would personally appoint the four guards that would be permanently appointed to her for the duration of your role as state strategy. So far things were going relatively well, but you knew the drama was about to start.

You knew your petty ass was going to relish in it. So was your mother, come to think of it, but she was too proud to admit it.

She was nonetheless the first one to arrive, in a long, traditional dress, complete with her headdress, Captain Phasma at her side, a sign that your mama had accorded her a great deal of respect. She begun her curtsey, but the Empress mother herself stood up to come and pull her up, something which made her blush a bit. She did incline her head deeply in greeting to the Royal family though, and they all smiled in acknowledgement of her greeting. She was put to seat in the row directly behind the Royal family, and you later realised that she was pleasantly surprised to be seated next to Archduke Finn’s family, the only one of the families of the court that accorded her the respect she was rightfully due.

Slowly, the families of the court started trickling in. Some of them could not disguise their (very unpleasant) surprise at seeing you stand next to the emperor, albeit a step behind, and your mother seated on the immediate row behind your royal family, in between one of the more powerful families too, immune from their snobbery. Oh, both of you were going to have a great discussion when you got back home.

Finally, the last two people - no, three people - to arrive finally settled down, Snoke, Hux, and the most pretentious, entitled man in the Kingdom, Thomas Kubrick, Kayla’s father. He stopped, no doubt shocked, at seeing your position next to the emperor, then almost fell over when he saw where your mother was sitting. Your mama, most definitely not one to disappoint looked at him and smiled sweetly, her smile dripping with saccharine mockery at him and literally giggled when she caught your gaze, causing you to snort. The last time you saw her this happy, actually  _ genuinely  _ happy was when your father was still alive, and you wished this moment would last forever for her.

Hux and Snoke tugged Kubrick, and he startled, before remembering where he was supposed to be going, and increased his stride to go and sit next to his wife, who smiled at him, a very plastic and brittle smile, as if her mouth was mechanically moving on command of seeing her husband. His entire family glared at you, his son in particular, Jayce, glowering pure hatred at you. You raised an eyebrow, then rolled your eyes at him. He still wasn’t over his bitterness huh?

Anyway, everyone had finally settled down, and the emperor stood. You noticed the hilt of his lightsaber on his waist, before you suddenly remembered that you had carried your father’s Takoba, under your shawl that you had strategically made flow over your right, where the sword was.

You wondered if you would ever get to use it.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you all for the opportunity for lending me your ears again, for I have great news to share with you.”

His distorted voice, though deep and, objectively speaking, intimidating, was more compelling than anything else. It never changed in timbre or time when he was speaking in a microphone, something that you probably attributed to the technology of the vocoder in his helmet. You subtly looked around, and you saw everyone seemed to have directed all their focus at him, paying rapt attention, as he was that compelling.

“As we all know, we lost General Oreno three months ago, and with that lost we lost an integral part of our administration: a brilliant mind, a fantastic statesman and a great friend. I, in collaboration with the other current General, Armitage Hux and the other senior advisor, Snoke and the leading heads of the families of the court have been having multiple discussions and bouncing suggestions to each other about who his replacement should be. There were very many names that were brought forward, all of them excellent suggestions, but at the end we must only appoint one person as the late General Oreno’s replacement.”

He paused, probably for dramatic effect (you remembered your father telling how incredibly extra the Skywalker family as a whole was, and you could start to see what he was talking about. There was honestly no reason to pause here, because the anticipation was already off the roof. Even people who already knew who your father’s replacement was seemed to be swept us in the tension, but the emperor just had to be unnecessarily dramatic) before making the announcement.

“Please join me on congratulating Miss Salama Oreno as the new senior state advisor.” He stood up, begin clapping, the action sounding a little hollow because of his gloves, but when his family started clapping as well, the families of the court were forced to join in, and suddenly, despite the relatively small crowd there was a little bit of an applause going on. You smiled, inclining your head deeply at the cameras, as you were invited to come forward and make an impromptu speech.

At first you weren’t expecting it, but public speaking was something you excelled at. You also decided to succeed out of sheer pettiness because you knew more than three quarters of the people in this room were waiting for you to fail, and you weren’t going to fail. 

Not today, not anytime in the future.

“Thank you, your majesty,” you muttered walking your way to the microphone.”

“Esteemed members of the public, I understand that the late General Oreno, my father, left absolutely massive boots to fill when he passed on, and I am very much aware of the expectations on my shoulders concerning the duties and obligations that await me in taking this role. I can assure you that I will perform my duties to the best of my abilities, will some intention of serving you and keeping your considerations at the forefront. I am open to any and all criticism from you, the people, when you feel like I am not doing my job properly, because after all, it is you who have employed me, and therefore you are obligated to hold me accountable. I therefore kindly request that you give me the same support and encouragement you gave my father to help me run the kingdom. Thank you all very much and I look forward to serving you.”

You took a step back and this time your mother is the one that started the applause, before the emperor’s mother joined her and then the applause grew louder. You beamed at the cameras as his majesty came to make his closing remarks as you stood behind him. He finished with a bow, and turned around to walk out, signalling you and your mother to follow him.

You noticed there were four guards behind her, guards that she obviously never had before. You immediately recognised that these must have been the guards that were assigned to her by the emperor, guards that you requested for her. You both followed the emperor into a room, where all of the families of the court were seated, in front of a long table. The heads were seated on the table, with their families behind them. There were three empty seats, including the throne. Everyone stood up as his majesty walked to take his seat, and nobody sat down until after he did.

“Thank you all for attending this meeting. As you are all well aware I called for this emergency gathering because there have been skirmishes happening in the northern parts of the Galactic city, and though there have been no reported fatalities or injuries, some villages and towns have been overrun. We sent some requests for diplomacy, but all of them have gone unanswered. We are still waiting on more information before doing anything decisive, but it is getting quite pricey resettling the villages and town that have been affected. We obviously don’t want the people pushed in too much, so we need to go out there ourselves. Should we go with a small guard, a section of the army, or just send in a diplomatic mission?”

There was some slight murmuring across the table, as you were staring at datapad that had been brought to you, skimming through the exact information that was being talked about currently.

From the information you were reading, you couldn’t really figure out what the point of this conflict was. It seemed that these were people that just wanted to cause trouble for the kingdom, because it’s not they were forcefully assimilated in. In fact,  _ they  _ are the ones that volunteered to join the empire, requesting to be given citizenship in exchange for their excellent cartography skills. From what you had seen they had been treated very well, having a very high percentage of employment in the public sector and some members of their ethnic group holding some very high ranking and respectable offices of the state. It seemed there were just some people in their community who wanted to needlessly start conflict for no reason at all, because they had completely refused to respond to the state, which was very out of the ordinary for them.

You don’t know why you felt like there was something quite not right going on here.

You weren’t quite sure who was in charge of passing this information over to the emperor, and you didn’t trust Snoke enough to ask, so you leaned back and asked the gentleman that was seated to your left, who didn’t seem too bad. In fact you could even say that he seemed friendly enough to you.

“Excuse me, who here is in charge of channeling information to the emperor?” You murmured.

“Senior Commander Snoke is. However, if you go into the  ministry itself, they can give you all the files you need without his filtered version. It’s probably time consuming, but it’s the best course of action if you want only the truth.”

“Thank you,” you said, truly grateful as you switched off your data pad.

“...jesty, it would only be fair if you chastised the new lead state strategist to pay attention when you are speaking,” you heard Kubrick say, his voice as pretentious as you remembered it.

Suddenly, all conversations in the room stopped, and everyone turned to you.

“Miss Oreno was merely enquiring where she can get more information on dealing with the menace that is happening to the people in the northern part of the city, your Grace. I’m very sure that’s part of her job description, so I really don’t think there’s any reason for me to chastise her. She has just been appointed and she is already settling herself into her duties, something I’m sure you, and some of your colleagues here could emulate.”

You pursed your lips, before grabbing your glass and taking a sip of water so that you could hold back your snort. The emperor really had no chill.

Kubrick opened his eyes to say something, but nothing came out, and for a moment you were blessed with some quiet. The meeting went on, with other matters that were being discussed that begun before you joined the committee. However, at the end of it all is when it took all the control you possessed not to unsheath your sword and decapitate quite a number of people in this room.

“Excuse me, your majesty, but I really believe Oreno should surrender her father’s sword.”

You froze and so did your mother.

The emperor turned to you, then to him. The Takoba dug into your hip, and for the first time wearing it since it was given back you felt very uncomfortable having it on your person. It felt too heavy to carry, like a burden at that particular point in time, and only a substantial amount of control stopped you from gripping the hilt, just under your ribcage.

“And what exactly would you want with my husband’s sword?” you mother asked calmly. You were going to add onto whatever it was she would say, but when you heard her tone your mouth immediately clamped shut. As much she was your mother and it was obvious that you would be the first to tell, you knew that voice. You  _ knew  _ just what it implied. Your mother was very soft-spoken, but you knew when she put on  _ the tone  _ she was very subtly demanding that you tell her the truth, because if you lied and she found out, there would be, quite literally, hell to pay. You mother had an extremely strong personality, almost stifling, and you could feel it right now.

(Un)fortunately, so could the rest of the room. Kubrick, who seemed so confident before, seemed to lose his voice right now.

“I don’t like repeating myself,  _ your grace,”  _ she said, her reference to him by his mandatory honourific dripping with spite. “What exactly do you want with my husband’s sword?”

“Uh, well, Mrs Oreno, it should be kept, um, as a possession of the state. Your husband was a fantastic general and an amazing strategist. I was just concerned that the weapon might fall into the wrong hands. Of course I am very con-”

“And what exactly is your definition of the wrong hands?”

Again it was deathly silent, and the tension in the room was almost palpable.

“Mrs. Oreno,” Snoke begun. “I don’t see the need to-”

“Please inform me at what point this evening I addressed you and asked for your irrelevant opinion on anything? Because I truly don’t remember.” You mama snapped, immediately turning to Snoke, her voice sharp. You had never seen a grown man clamp his mouth that fast and that hard in your life.

“You have not answered my question, Kubrick.  _ What is your definition of the wrong hands?!” _

_ “ _ Anyone that can harm his majesty or is at risk of harming his majesty or any member of the families of the court,” he babbled with immediate effect, his voice getting smaller.

“And if I have the sword with me, how exactly do you think it will land in the hands of someone that will harm his majesty or any member of the families of the royal court?” You mama was almost shrieking now, and you could see the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. You immediately got out of your chair and walked towards her, pulling her into your arms and hugging her tightly, as she broke down, sobbing into your shoulder.

Just at that moment, your chest tightened, and you felt as though there was a powerful effect constricting the air in the room. You looked up in the direction of Kubrick, and you saw his eyes roll to the back of his skull, as he was gasping, as if he was struggling for air. His hands struggled to his neck, as if he was prying an invisible force on there. You slowly turned to look at the general direction he was facing and then you saw it. 

His majesty, crown slightly levitating,  _ vibrating  _ above his head, as he stood there, one leg slightly in front of the other, his right hand on his side, clenched into a fist, his left hand out straight in front of him, stretched out in the general direction of Kubrick.

He was  _ using the Force.  _ The emperor was force-choking Kubrick.

RIght on cue, Kubrick was suddenly lurched forward, and in about a second his neck was in the emperor’s large hand as he gurgled something, gripping his majesty’s wrist weakly.

“Greed and hubris aren’t things I look upon kindly coming from my senior official,  _ Kubrick,”  _ his majesty snarled. “Check yourself before you self destruct.”

He immediately dropped him to the ground and he fell like a sack of potatoes into a graceless heap on the ground, choking and gasping for air as he wheezed on the ground. You, on the other hand, still holding your mother, felt a familiar heat at the pit of your stomach, and you swallowed, closing your eyes and looking away, trying to push your lustful thoughts to the recesses of your mind.

“Get out of my sight.”

Kubrick got up, utterly humiliated and hastily managed a somewhat respectable bow, before turning around and nudging his head towards his family, nearly running out.

“Dismissed,” the emperor snapped at everyone else, and you were sure if there were windows some people would have jumped out of them in an effort to avoid the ire directed at them. Even Snoke was out of there deceptively fast for someone of his age, though you could argue the Force helped a little with that.

For a moment your gazes met, or more specifically, your gaze and his helmet, and you were the first one to drop your gaze, biting your lower lip as you pretended to tell your mum it was time to leave.

He left the room without another word, leaving you there very confused and  _ very  _ aroused.

Oh boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first person to figure out the blatant reference in here gets a dedication in the next chapter and also gets to send me a request for a drabble of any character of their choice on tumblr by me over [here](http://nutheadgee.tumblr.com/).


	6. Travel and alone time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedication to [GetInMelanin](http://archiveofourown.org/users/GetInMelanin/pseuds/GetInMelanin) who was the first one to figure out the reference in past chapter. There's even some fun stuff at the end for you.

Life was coming at you kind of fast.

It had only been two days since your announcement as adviser to the emperor, and you were already expected to be travelling, probably into battle. You quite weren’t sure whether to be excited or terrified at the prospect, as you skimmed down the letter than had been sent to you by the emperor himself.

You had had a long discussion with your mother when you got home over a variety of things. You had heard rumours that those who were sensitive with the Force could read thoughts, and your mother had confirmed it to you, which explained the hubris and greed that his majesty was talking about as he choked and addressed Kubrick.

Even before aforementioned discussion, a lot had happened. Despite your mum’s new security, everyone in your settlement, and in particular the children, had been very excited, and there was something of a small celebration to personally congratulate you on your appointment. As a result, you both had retired to your home a lot later than you both expected, and even then you still had to excuse yourselves due to the aforementioned conversation you felt you had to have.

Not many people knew of Jayce Kubrick proposing to you two years ago. In fact you thought the only people that were aware were your respective families. Jayce, with his blonde hair and green eyes, long nose, (admittedly) smooth, pale skin, thought he was the most attractive man of his generation, and surely no woman would dare say no to him. And though he was objectively attractive, with his height and his lean but muscular build, intellect and thirst to learn, he probably could have had a chance, had he not had the personality of his father.

He was arrogant, entitled and privileged. Without even having known him for a substantial amount of time you could tell that from when he was a child his parents had always fed him some narrative that he was the best and that he was perfect, unable to do any wrong. After all, he was the next Kubrick heir, heir to their prestigious dukedom. He grew up thinking that everyone and everything should stop what they were doing to pay attention to him, because like his father, he was the most relevant of his generation.

It was this confidence that he and his parents approached you and your parents with the proposition to marry you. How could you refuse? If all the young women of the court were after him, who were you to refuse his  _ generous  _ offer to be his wife?

Apparently, your main motivation in life was to be reduced to the wife of a Duke. He had another thing coming, he just didn’t know it yet.

Your parents informed them that they would leave that decision to you, and after three days (after all, pettiness was a core part of you) you promptly informed him that you would be declining his proposal, and that you were sure that he could find another young lady that would be more than happy to marry him.

The shock on his face was almost comical, but the dark expressions that replaced the shock on he and his parents’ faces after is what immediately made you suspicious. You knew that as long as your father was alive they would never try any shenanigans, but right now you were sure they were confident that you and your mother were vulnerable, so they could now use their influence to bully you.

How wrong they were. You were now appointed as one of the most powerful civil servants in the kingdom, equal in rank with Snoke, and they were also well aware that you had used that authority to request security for your mother. To say it infuriated them would be an understatement. The glares they gave you during your appointment announcement was more than enough evidence of that.

Thomas Kubrick’s first attempt at humiliating you had been demanding for your father’s sword, and his majesty had made it very clear who had the right to keep it. Both you and your mother deeply appreciated the sentiment.

Now here you were, sitting in the sitting room of your humble abode, reading the summons by his majesty, requesting you go to the war room of the palace to discuss battle tactics. You were to leave for the northwest of the city with a small force to deal with the menace and the rebellion that was trying to take root there. The plan was to try and go for a negotiation, but if they wanted to fight, then you would have no choice but to fight.

You stood up, going into your room and packing what you would need. The emperor had informed you to go the Captain Phasma, so that she could take you fro your armour fitting before the meeting commenced, so you decided it was time to start moving. You left a quick note for your mother on the table, and briskly begun walking towards the Royal Palace.

It was time to start doing your job.

…

It didn’t take long for you to be fitted for your armour. Your takoba was examined as well, before it was sharpened and polished and then returned to you. You were the first one in the war room, having being led there by the Captain of the guard herself, and you made sure to examine the map of the area you were visiting and making your own preliminary notes as you waited for the other advisers and his majesty to join you.

Slowly the other advisers trickled in, most of them not even bothering with you, as you were not of their social class, since you had been reduced to just a farmer’s daughter. You had no issue with that, honestly, as it gave you more time to make your notes and figure out what you would tell his majesty.

Suddenly, you felt that uneasy presence around you again, that very negative Force energy around you. You immediately looked up, your gaze catching Snoke’s disfigured one. He seemed completely unmoved. In fact from an objective observer’s eye he looked like he was looking in your general line of sight. However, you were not deceived. This man absolutely despised you, because this was not the first time you had felt that energy. You remembered your father’s funeral. You were no expert on the Force, but you knew enough to know that someone as allegedly proficient on the Force as Snoke was did not just use it willy nilly.

There was also the fact that no one else in the room had experienced it, meaning he had honed in that energy at you and only  _ you.  _ There was also the fact that Hux was looking at you, his nose slightly raised.

“Stop staring at me. It’s very unnerving,” you said bluntly, looking at Snoke. The chatter that was going on suddenly quieted, and everyone turned to you. The atmosphere in the room was of silent surprise. You doubted anyone had ever addressed Snoke that candidly, because of his position in the empire. 

You however didn’t care. You knew you could call him out on his dodginess because you were protected by your office. You immediately turned to Hux. “And you, no matter what negative things you choose to spread about me, it still won’t remove me from this position, so don’t waste your time.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hux immediately responded in a clipped tone, his accent more pronounced, meaning you had definitely hit a couple of nerves. You smiled to yourself.

“Of course you don’t,” you told him, deliberately being catty. You knew that Hux was exceptionally patient, particularly when it came to dealing with people, but you swore to yourself you’d find a way to systematically chip through that patience and do everything you could in your power to make him uncomfortable or at the very least, irritated. You had the pettiness to pull it off.

Before he could respond, his majesty the emperor walked in, forcing all of you to stand to acknowledge his presence. Your face went from sarcastic smile to neutral, but your mind was still focussing on how else you could rile Hux and Snoke. It seemed that they really weren’t as collected as they made people believe when there was someone who could blatantly challenge them that wasn’t a member of the Royal Family.

It also added credence to your assessment that most, if not all, heads of the families of the court really didn’t give a fuck about anything but their own interests.

“Thank you very much all for coming. I apologise for being late. I was looking at some more intel that came in this morning that will be relevant to our discussion today,” Emperor Kylo begun, after having sat down and gestured for you all to do the same. There was hot, freshly brewed tea brought in for all of us, and he took a sip of his.

“It has come to my attention that the attackers of our village in the north are being paid by someone. They are mercenaries, but so far they have not disclosed whose payroll they are on. In fact we know this by mistake, since one of the adversaries is the one that mentioned something about their sponsor not being amused at their slow progress.”

It was dead silent in the room, everyone, including yourself visibly shocked. You knew first hand that the empire wasn’t perfect. Ever since the first emperor brought everyone to heel and begun consolidating his authority (and dealing with the occasional rebellion), there were still some people and communities with grievances that popped up every once in a while, and those were dealt with diplomatically.

Unless, of course, they came with violence, then things would never end very well for them. Your father, for the most part, saw to that.

His majesty turned to Hux.

“I will leave you here, General, to see to things. I would also like you to begin conducting an investigation on who you think the sponsors of these insurgents are. I’m not sure how long we will be out there, but I’m expecting us to be there for not longer than a fortnight. I expect a full report from you when I get that. Am I clear?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Very well. The rest of you, we leave at dawn. We will discuss everything else at the rest stop. Dismissed.”

Well, this was going to be interesting.

…

The journey to the north was uneventful at most. You stopped twice, discussing strategies based on the information you had on hand. There was still some that was missing, and you all decided that you would fill the gaps when you reached your final destination. 

It was also during the journey that you realised just how utterly  _ annoying  _ these men of the court were. Jesus Christ! More than once you were tempted to draw your father’s Takona on them, but then you thought of the mess that would cause and the subsequent theatrics after (funerals, ascensions of heirs, etc) and you held back, realising that was literally the only thing that was stopping you from decapitation some of these men in their sleep. Not only were they elitist, but they were also exceptionally misogynistic, as if they were not used to having a woman in charge of them.

They very conveniently forgot that we lived in matriarchal culture, and all of them got their current posts because of the woman in their lives, but this was neither the time and the place to remind them of such specifics.

It still irked you, even as you arrived at your destination and started unpacking and accommodating yourselves for the evening, how some idiot always had an issue with any of the points you brought up. No matter how logical and methodical you were, someone always had a point to rebuke something, and most of them either didn’t make any sense at all or were just flat out stupid. They were clearly trying to test you, and you quite frankly were not in the mood of being tested, so it was on this day that you showed them you were not only very thorough but also very petty.

Whenever one of them opened their mouth to say something idiotic you took it upon yourself to not only tear apart their argument but also add a sarcastic question at the end, something which seemed to quite amuse the emperor. Snoke, your supposed colleague, never tired to tell these men to stop this behaviour, but he also never rebuked you when you retaliated. You weren’t sure what he was thinking or planning, but that was something that had caught your attention and you decided you’d think on it later on.

You had come out of the shower and was preparing to go to sleep, when you heard a tentative knock on the door. “Come in.”

You nearly fell over backwards when the emperor walked in, however, his presence in the room assigned to you (you were staying at a very old but very beautiful and well maintained hotel) it was what he looked like.

All he had on were house slippers (very black, but also very fluffy) and loose black pants. His hair, long and thick, was an unruly mess on his head, that you swallowed thickly as your eyes quickly moved up his body from his feet over to his face.

His body was an absolute  _ masterpiece,  _ sculpted by the gods themselves. He was a huge man, broad shoulders leading to thick arms, a muscular chest and sleek abdomen, criss-crossed with pale scars in certain areas. His majesty was built like a brick wall, a man made and trained to fight from a young age. You felt hot lust drip straight from the pit of your stomach and manifest itself in between your legs, your cunt getting wet as you closed your eyes and took a deep breath. You would thirst later, when he had gone back to his quarters.

“My apologies for interrupting you before bed, Salama,” he murmured, his voice having dipped an octave lower. You noticed that he also took a moment to run his eyes up and down your body, and you had never felt more exposed in nothing but a pair of old ankle socks that you stole from your mother and an oversized t-shirt that reached your knees and was so large for you that one of your shoulders was exposed.

“No big deal, your majesty,” you responded, your voice more breathy than a whisper. Your throat was dry, and you licked your lips nervously. Not now, hormones.

“What can I do for you?”

“There is something I wanted to enquire from you. Can you please show me your map and your notes?”

“Of course,” you responded, moving onto your desk and opening up your map, bringing out your notes. Suddenly, he was behind you, and you could barely breathe, overwhelmed by his sheer presence and his masculine scent of sandalwood and fresh rain.

“Where did you say you suspected these insurgents came from?”

He was  _ so close,  _ you could almost feel his front against your back. You closed your eyes and swallowed again.

“Here, you pointed, your eyes roving around the map, already seeing what he was trying to communicate with you.

“And you are sure, based on the information that you have that they consistently attack from here?”

“Yes,” you breathed out, as the horror dawned on you.

“Well, I suppose we have one of our answers sorted out.”

He leaned forward, reaching for a pen and you had to bite back a moan when his whole body pressed into you, from his chest to his groin.You bit your tongue to prevent whatever sound that was almost coming out from doing so. Jesus father  _ lawd _ , this man.

You felt both his arms against your waist, as he placed his large hand on the desk and scribbled the words “Snoke” on it.

“I have a favour to request of you,  _ Salama,”  _ he whispered in your ear. His voice had dipped an octave, huskier when he said your name, and it took the self-control of God himself not to moan out.

“I want you to send this back to Central. Demand for all information on what Snoke has been up to the past three months without fail. I’m sure one of your father’s loyal friends can find something worthwhile for us. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes,” you managed. “I’ll send it out tomorrow.” You were very proud that your voice managed to stay steady, despite what the emperor and his body were doing to you. God his  _ body. _

“Thank you,” he said quietly, placing a hot-open mouthed kiss on your neck, pulling you closer towards him as he pressed his crotch onto your bum. You couldn’t help it. You let out a moan, low and long.

“I will see you tomorrow.”

And just as suddenly, he was gone, leaving you gasping, leaning on the table and trying to catch your breath.

What had happened?


	7. This is gonna be a trip

You were still reeling from last night, your body was still tingling, your mind still distracted at your interaction with your emperor, and try as you might, it was getting a little bit difficult to forget about it and focus on what brought you here.

Despite your thoughts, it had been a productive day. As promised you had sent the map, some of your notes and his majesty’s request on all of Snoke’s activities in the past three months to one of your father’s staunchest loyal followers in the Ministry of Information. You doubted Snoke would be stupid enough to leave a paper trail of his paying the insurgents if he was the one doing it, but you hoped you could get something, no matter how tiny, to follow up on. 

After that, you had taken it upon yourself to go out and talk to the locals about the attacks that had been happening to them. You were sure to introduce yourself, and you were patient with them, sitting with them and talking to them, refusing to take any of the trained soldiers from the army with you because you knew they would intimidate the people. You found out that as long as you were open with them and did not rush or hurry them, they told you everything you needed to know to the best of their ability.

According to the locals, the perpetrators of this violence came out once every fortnight to attack. They tended to avoid direct confrontations with everyone else, and rarely ever killed anyone. In fact, this whole fiasco had been going on for about four months now and yet only two people had died, which, from the discussion you had in the capital, was the reason it had taken such a long time for his majesty to act. There were no fatalities, and very little, if any casualties. The people also did not seem too traumatised by it, but when a child was caught in the crossfire, that seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The attackers never even destroyed the traditional means of livelihood of the people that lived there. They only destroyed the infrastructure, things that would cost the government, however going by the damage done it seemed like linking the infrastructure and the effect of it on the people’s livelihoods wasn’t quite something they had managed to figure out yet. The attacks also seemed very structured and coordinated, which simply gave credence to your assessment that this was not something that was organised by some run in the mill guerilla fighter. There was someone probably far more powerful behind this.

You were also informed that they had very modern weapons, powerful enough to destroy on direct hits, but not powerful enough to cause too much collateral damage. They seemed very sophisticated, apparently, not the kind of weapons you would expect from people who had just banded up and decided to cause mayhem for the government.

Going by the information you had gathered, it seemed as though this rag tag group of rebellious people were working in a cycle. There was a procedure that seemed to be taking place, because this series of attacks was happening very methodically, which also increased the probability that this was an inside government job, something his majesty had pointed out last night in your room. From what you could gather it seemed that the insurgents would be paid, then they would come out and attack, before going back into hiding again. They would stay a while - probably having their weapons and armour repaired or replaced before they’d be given clearance to come out and attack again.

Despite this, you were still frustrated, because it wasn’t enough information to either form a sound strategy against our alleged perpetrators or try and figure out who was behind all of this. Of course there was the fact that the guerillas weren’t doing this on their own, but that was something you could have figured out without having to come all this way.

Lack of information, however wasn’t something that pressed you too much in this instance, because for the most part there was really nothing you could do about having no information on a subject. That was something completely out of your control. The one thing that  _ did  _ have you pressed was your body, and how it was still responding to your, un,  _ interaction  _ with his majesty the previous night.

He knew exactly what he was doing when he walked into your room in his attire, or lack thereof. You were sure you had been very careful to hide your thirst around him. Had he read your mind? Had he delved into the deep, dark recesses of your conscious, where you had thought, since the first time you met how you wanted to tear his clothes off and ride his cock for three days straight? Was he disgusted? Indifferent? Or was he waiting for the opportune moment to tease you relentlessly on your less than adequate control of your hormones?

Your mind couldn’t stop drifting towards his hard body behind you, solid and muscular, or how one arm was wrapped solidly around your waist, holding you against him. You were very sure if he wasn’t holding you would have fallen over, and you’re still trying to figure out how you refrained from fainting on the spot. His voice, sans helmet, normally a smooth baritone had dipped about an octave lower, huskier and felt like melted honey flowing luxuriously over your senses. And his mouth,  _ God  _ his mouth, those full lips against your skin, the feel of his tongue when he kissed you.

You shifted in your seat, crossing your legs to try and get yourself in some form of order. Sexy as the emperor was, now was not the most appropriate time to think of how it would feel to have his powerful form above you, indulging you in levels of pleasure you had yet to experience.

Just then, the door to your room burst open. You quickly turned toward it, your face twisting into a vicious glare to see which mannerless buffon just burst in without even bloody knocking.

“Miss Oreno, his majesty has called for a meeting, right now.”

_ Of course  _ it was Snoke. You wished you could have done this information consolidation thing nude.

“When we travelled from the capital city to here, did you by any chance leave your manners there? Or maybe you threw you manners away at some point to the journey here?”

His mouth curved, and his face was so disfigured you couldn’t tell whether it was a smile, a frown, or other muscles just...reacting to what you said. What you  _ did  _ know, however, was that he was definitely expressing some form of displeasure at you.

As usual.

“His majesty simply sent me to fetch you. Can you really fault me for obeying my boss’ commands?

“What he should have sent you to fetch instead was basic human respect, particularly for women, but apparently that really won’t do because you have public policy to fuck up in your favour. Please leave. I really don’t want to see you any more than I should in a given twenty four hour period.”

He stood there for a moment, just staring at you, before you suddenly fell to your knees, clutching your head, a blinding pressure suddenly pounding  outwards from inside. The pain was excruciating, and you weren’t even sure whether the screaming you were doing in your mind was being reflected outside of it as well. Suddenly, just as it had started it stopped, and you stayed there on your knees, clutching your head, panting harshly.

You realised your cheeks were damp, the pain so bad you actually teared.

“Fucking asshole,” you snarled at him, before he turned around and walked out.

For a split second, you entertained the thought of hiring an assassin to take Snoke out, but you immediately pushed the thought out of your head. There were too many risks, and on the surface, the disadvantages were more than the advantages, so stood up, straining, and headed to your suitcase. You had a meeting to attend.

…

“Argh...this is extremely frustrating. My apologies for asking you this, Miss Moreno, but have you requested for extra information from the capital? Maybe someone can find something?” Jodet, one of the more tolerable of the emperor’s advisors asked you.

You nodded. “I have, yes. I sent a request this morning. Hopefully we should get something by the end of this week, maybe the beginning of next week at the latest. I apologise for this dismal work, honestly, but this was all I could manage to find. The residents are still a little shaken after their experiences, and I didn’t want to push them too hard. They are aware they are more than welcome to tell me anything they remember at any time for the entire duration we’re here. I’m frankly quite surprised that they managed to tell me this much.”

Jodet nodded himself, sighing. “Very well. Thank you very much for your hard work. We wouldn’t have progressed this far had it not been for you. On behalf of everyone else we all truly appreciated it.”

You inclined your head once. “You’re very welcome, sir. Thank you for the kind words.”

Internally, you highly doubted three quarters of the men on this table really appreciated anything you did. They were too self-absorbed in their own classism, not taking you seriously because you were the mere daughter of a farmer. You didn’t care about them, however. You had one job to do and as long as they never got in the way of that job, you wouldn’t give quarter a fuck and a bucket of diarrhoea what their opinions on you, or anything, for that matter were.

What you  _ did  _ care about, however, is the way the emperor was looking at you. Or maybe looking in your general direction. You couldn’t quite tell with his helmet and everything. He was generally paying attention to everything that was happening around him, but you couldn’t help that feel that he was looking at you with a certain scrutiny today. You even doubted that the attention he was giving you was negative in any way. You realised earlier on life you had a knack of being able to recognise when someone had ill intentions regarding you within the first couple of times of meeting them. You never knew what it was, just something akin to a gut instinct. You remembered your father telling you that that particular skill would serve you well in the future, and for now, when you could afford to daydream for a little bit in this boring as hell meeting, you wondered if the future he was talking about was now.

You felt a presence around you, something akin to Snoke’s Force presence, but this one was a bit warmer. It was not quite as strong, not quite as draining, still hard and firm, probably  _ dangerous,  _ but there was something protective about it. You couldn’t quite describe it, but it was a good feeling. You liked the way it washed over you.

Eventually, you were all released, and as everyone was gathering their work to leave - there was a lot to think about, plan for and consider in lieu of the decisions you had come to - you heard his majesty call you, asking you if you have a minute.

“Of course, sir.”

Your body stirred as you walked towards him.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

For a moment, he just eyeballed you.

“Snoke paid you a visit. He wedged a mental attack with the Force against you. You were somehow able to withstand it, but you’re still mentally shaken by it.”

His voice wasn’t surprised or angry. In fact you couldn’t recognise any emotion in it. He was simply stating facts, blunt and straightforward. At first, you didn’t know how to respond to that, so you simply stared at him, opening your mouth to try and respond, but for some reason your mind had forgotten what speech was and how it worked.

You dropped your gaze, embarrassed. You took a deep breath, trying to formulate a response.  _ How did he know?!  _ Was that how the Force worked? Did he read your mind, or perhaps there were remnants of Snoke’s Force abilities around you?

That, however, wasn’t what you should be contemplating at the moment. You had other things to address right now.

“How do you know?” you finally managed to ask, as you watched him remove his helmet.

“You, like you father, are a very mentally resilient person, and I can tell from how tired you are, how it was a struggle for you to concentrate during the meeting. The last time I saw you, you were doing perfectly fine, but suddenly you are very tired and concentration is a struggle. Normal mental fatigue is more long term, where it’s more doing things for longer hours over a long period of time without getting adequate rest, not just something that happens over a couple of minutes.”

You just stared at him, or more specifically his helmet as he spoke. You didn’t even notice him lift his hand, grabbing your chin in between his thumb and his forefinger, lifting your face to look up at him.

“If you want, I could give you some private lessons in mental resilience. Of course you’re not Force-sensitive, so I can’t teach you to completely block out his Force attacks. There is even a possibility of him not using them any more because he is probably aware that I know he did use it on you and he knows he’s in trouble for it, but you should understand that Snoke is not the only Force sensitive that doesn’t like you, so maybe some defences might be good to have.”

You were extremely surprised that the emperor was proving to be concerned for your wellbeing. Objectively, he probably would because you were his lead advisor and he needed you to be in peak mental health to be able to perform your job properly, but going out of his way to offer help was perhaps a little more than you expected.

“Y-Yes. Thank you,” you stuttered, looking away to try and hide your blush. You had never been more thankful for your skin colour because you were sure if you were any lighter then you would be looking like a ketchup bottle.

“I could organise something for you when we get back to the Capital,” he murmured, his voice lower.

You nodded, feeling arousal beginning to take root of your body again. You swallowed. Would he kill you in your pushed yourself onto his body to feel him again?

“Uh, your highness, I’d love to stay and chat and otherwise judge the families of the court, but I have to go back. I’m waiting on the news concerning this whole mess, and I really want to prepare for that, see if I can get any more information when that comes in, so please excuse me.”

You felt like a twelve year old confronting their crush for the first time. His majesty on the other hand, just looked at you for a moment, before he released you.

…

There was good news and bad news.

The good news was, you had finally gotten a response from the capital. It was very comprehensive. The bad news was that, you and the emperor were right in your suspicions. This was an inside job.

Fuck your life.


	8. Learning more about the emperor

You had been staring at these documents for the past three hours, and for some reason, you still weren’t very sure how to raise these issues in the next meeting with the advisors.

Predictably, there was nothing with Senior Adviser Snoke’s name in the documents, not even Hux, which was understandable. If there were doing dodgy stuff it would be incredibly stupid to put their own names in. The scandal that would be associated with them would be incredible, and considering how concerned they always were with how the public perceived them, that was a risk none of them was willing to take.

However, you realised a certain pattern of trends in the documentation before you. There were a couple of names you knew of because your parents had told you to not associate too much with them, but there were also others you were hearing of for the first time. It could be inaccurate to call them insignificant, but they were not particularly influential, but they worked in just about the right departments that would help whoever it was that was funding these people and causing this mess.

You also noticed another trend, was that these individuals were working in very specific ministries, particularly in finance, internal security and transport and logistics. There was a very clear flow of information - and funds, some of it tax payers’ money - from one department to another, in order of how this insurgence, so to speak should happen.

So far, you were able to hypothesise the following: a certain amount of money was consolidated in the ministry of finance - again, not too much to rouse suspicion, but enough that could not incur too much bank and other transaction costs - and this was siphoned off to the ministry of internal security and transport. You were still yet to find out where this money came from, but that was something you’d find out when you got back to the capital. There had to be a paper trail left. Money in the Ministry of Finance always originated from the Central Bank, who were, by lae, required to  _ always  _ have a paper trail. The ammunition was then bought and transported up here, the insurgents paid and probably told to await further instructions. They then attacked when they were told, and the time they never attacked, like now, they were having their weapons repaired or replaced.

There was also the consideration that they were too scared to attack because they knew his majesty was up here.

You looked at the documents for another few minutes, sighing. It was time to go out and talk to people again.

…

The silence in the room was tense, more than anything. It was pretty clear that none of these members of the families of the court weren’t expecting to actually have to do any work. You had also realised that the blunt approach to things was always the best option. You never expected this bunch of snobs to actually come to the meeting you called for, but here you all were. Granted you hadn’t given them  _ all  _ the infromation, but for now, you were justified because you didn’t trust them.

“So what you’re saying, Miss Oreno, is that the local residents here are suspicious that they have not been attacked yet because the guerillas are scared of us?” Some leader or other of one of the families said. You couldn’t bring yourself to remember his name. You just knew he was completely useless and you still hadn’t quite figured out his entire purpose in this mission.

Regardless, shade wasn’t going to help you at this point in time. There was plenty of time much later to judge the ever living shit out of all these idiots later. ”Yes. I had another opportunity to speak with them, and they all said the same thing, expressing their worry that because they had not been attacked this week, the next attack would be brutal, a kind of retribution for them asking us for assistance.”

It was silent for another moment. “I suggest,” you begun again. “That we leave some of the soldiers we came up with for a couple of days for the people’s protection, just to alleviate their fears, because it is a valid fear that they have.”

You didn’t fail to notice the sudden panicky looks these nobles were exchanging. It took all the control you had not to smirk.

“What about our protection, though?” One of them, another one you couldn’t be bothered to remember her name, asked. You were honestly surprised that she was able to keep her voice steady.

“I’m sure you all have some form of combat training or experience. We should be fine.” You arranged your paperwork, casually waving your hand at them, very proud of the scathing glares you were getting. “I need to go inform his majesty before we begin making preparations to travel back to the capital city. Please excuse me.” You were out of there before any of them made any excuses, on your way to go see the emperor.

As you walked through the corridors you couldn’t help but stifle through a couple of giggles. These are people who were busy volunteering to come to this trip without sitting down and thinking about the long term risks that could be involved, most likely just so that they could get some attention and favour from the emprror. Honestly how were they convincing themselves that they even had half the intellect to help run an entire empire when they were lacking in such basic skills as “forethought” and “critical thinking”?

You finally got to the door of his room, taking in a deep breath to prepare yourself. After he came into your room a few nights ago, you really didn’t know what to expect. You knocked, and waited for him to invite you in.

“Enter,” he said, his vocoded voice giving you a sense of comfort, because that meant he was probably fully clothed. Hopefully.

He seemed to be talking to his cousin and her husband, their Graces Finn and Rey, and for a moment you just stood there awkwardly, before quickly doing a curtsy. “I’m so sorry for interrupting. I didn’t know his majesty would be talking to you. I can come back later.”

“No, please stay. I was just finishing with Rey and Finn,” the emperor said, turning to bid his kinspeople goodbye before switching off the holo and turning his full attention to you. “What do you have to tell me today?”

You requested if you could use his desk, and with his permission, you removed all your notes, explaining what you were able to infer from the information that the people had told you in your second round of going to talk to the local residents.

Of course there was still a lot of information gaps - for instance, who was behind this whole mess - but there was still some room to hypothesise, something you could work with for now, and maybe use to think up a strategy to solve this problem. His majesty stared at your notes when you were done, going through them one more time before handing them back to you, with clear instructions for you to keep them securely until you got back to the capital city. You needed insider information, and having it send over such a long distance would be risky, something which you agreed with.

“Who would you suspect would be behind this?” he asked you, when he was sure you had kept everything away. For a moment you paused, thinking about the question and figuring out how you would answer it. You definitely had your suspicions.

You bit your lower lip, not quite knowing how to start. “Well, the prime suspect, I think is Snoke. He has always had an element of greed from when he was first appointed, and he seems to be one of the people powerful and intelligent enough to plan this entire thing. He also has the support of Hux, who is pretty influential in his own right, and he is very good at subtly intimidating and bending his subordinates to his will.”

You paused, sparing a glance at his majesty. He never said or did anything, simply looked at you. You continued. “Some of the noblemen might also be involved, led by Kubrick. He has always had some sort of inferiority complex, always wanting to prove himself in some way or other, and because of the history and influence of his family, I’m sure some other families of the court would blindly follow him, because, well, they are all a bunch of spineless cowards who think following Kubrick will impress him enough to get in a word about them to you. I don’t know,” you shrugged, looking at him.

You looked back into his mask, and, of course, you weren’t able to figure out his expression, or what he was thinking.

“Thank you, Salama. I appreciate all the work you’ve put in. When we get back I’d like you to contact someone in the Central Bank and ask for them to trace all the money that’s been coming in from these individual accounts. As that is going on, look into these individuals and their histories: all their business transactions where they worked and what they have been involved in. At the same time, keep an eye out on everything that’s happening here. I’ll deal with Snoke, Hux, and the noble houses.”

“Will do, sir.”

As you walked out and headed towards your room, you couldn’t stop thinking about how his majesty addressed you. Even through his vocoder you could tell there was a difference in his voice, in his time. There were undertones of something that you quite couldn’t place, and that made you feel things that you most definitely weren't supposed to be feeling.

Oh boy.

…

The journey back home was uneventful, to your disappointment. You told his highness of your suggestion to leave some soldiers over for the protections of the locals, in case the nest attack is more vicious than they’re used to, and he agreed with you, travelling back with only four guards for himself because the law didn’t allow him to travel without security detail. You were slightly surprised that Snoke was also very much in agreement with your suggestion, not looking for all possible flaws with it like he did all the others. In retrospect, you thought, as you absent-mindedly run your hand over the blade of your takoba, he needed to keep up a front if he was the mastermind behind all this, but it still slightly startled you that he would so readily agree to what you’d say. He knew you weren’t stupid enough to just drop him as suspect immediately.

Or maybe he did. He had shown that time and time again he didn’t respect your intellect, so he was either doing this deliberately, or he was mocking you. Either way, he was still a prime suspect.

You took your mind off all of that for the time being entertaining yourself with the badly hidden panic from the nobles you were travelling with. They were constantly on edge, as if waiting any second now for someone or something to jump out of the bushes and attack  them. It was very ironical because those who actually had military experience (the emperor, yourself and Snoke) seemed the most relaxed in the group, whereas the ones who’s biggest weapons were their mouths were the panicked ones. Your mouth really wasn't going to help you when you were put in a position where you were forced to fight, your father once informed you.

You arrived back at the capital faster than you normally did, probably because there were less of you and you could travel faster, and quite frankly you were looking forward to getting home for a nice, long rest before embarking on finding supporters of your father in the Central Bank. you knew it was going to be a difficult task and that the next day would be a long day for you, which is why you had every intention to go home and eat your mum’s cooking and sleep for as long as possible.

The Fates, however, had an entirely different plan for you.

You had just arrived at the Royal Palace to escort his majesty home, and you were on your way out before his father stopped you, wanting to talk to you. You weren’t sure exactly what is was he wanted to talk to you about, but you followed him nonetheless into an empty room in the palace.

“Good afternoon, your Grace. WHat can I do for you?” you asked, proud that you were able to keep your fatigue out of your voice.

For a moment he just stared at you, not particularly used to being addressed so formally, before her shook his head slightly and begun talking.

“Uh, hi. Look, I want to talk to you about Kylo.”

You said nothing, simply nodding slowly.

“Kylo has had a very...difficult time, since your father died. They were pretty close, and your father was an excellent source of advice to him, and probably the only person he could trust in that whole lot of snobs. His mother and his uncle try, but as you’re well aware, they can’t be too blatant because some imbecile or other is going to unironically claim familial meddling in politics. He seems to be doing a lot better mentally and emotionally now that you’ve come in. the first thing he did when he walked in was sing your praises, particularly on all the hard work you did and how meticulous and thorough you were, how he felt that he was working with someone reliable. He is very happy to have you on as an adviser.”

Externally you were calm, looking as if you were contemplating, but internally you had probably just about screamed yourself hoarse. These were some pretty out there compliments that you weren’t expecting. You thought you were just doing your job. As far as you were concerned you really didn’t need to be complimented for doing what you were hired to do.

However, one thing still bothered you. “What about Snoke?”

His Grace actually groaned, rolling his eyes so far back into his head you were actually scared they would fall into his skull and roll backwards. “What the hell?! What do you mean, ‘what about Snoke’? I doubt there’s a living being that exists that trusts that...man. I’m not even sure if he’s a man. He just smells of nefarious motives. It doesn't take a Force-Sensitive to figure that out. ABsolutely none of us trust him, and he’s only in office because of tenure. He knows this, and he thinks having people fear him so is a good thing. I think he’s trying to intimidate Kylo but he’s finding it a little difficult partly because he’s Force-Sensitive and partly because he’s got family around him all the time, all of whom are also Force-Sensitive.”

You shrugged at that. He wasn’t wrong.

“Anyway, look, you seem calm enough. Please keep an eye out on him. He can be very impulsive. We don’t want to hear he has run his lightsaber into someone because they adore Snoke or something.”

It took a monumental amount of self-control not to snort. You quite weren’t one to talk about other people’s impulsive behaviour, but no one had to know that.

“I will try my best, your Grace,” you said your best, bowing because your body had refused to curtsy. He probably saw how tired you were, so he gave you a half smile and released you.

You had just reached outside when you heard an undignified whine and you sighed. You’d probably get in trouble for it later, but you couldn’t be bothered because you were tired.

It was bed time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late. I'm sorry. I'm on holiday, so if I'm not having existential crises I'm memeing. Let me prosper.


	9. A threat

What, in fact, was real life? As much as you were definitely being remunerated very well for your job description, you highly doubted it entailed this fuckery.

“You’re late,” Mrs Kubrick sneered at you, fanning the layers of foundation off her face. You sighed, raising an eyebrow at her. You hadn’t even gotten into the house and she was already out with the dramatics. Why you?

“I don’t remember setting an appointment with either of you,” you responded drily, making it very clear that you didn’t want to be there.

“We called you two and a half hours ago,” she managed through gritted teeth. Still, you stared at her, no doubt a bored expression on your face. Her daughter and son, suddenly appearing, had the nerve to look like they were irritated because you were annoying their mum.

Surely, how an entire family could be so lacking in self-awareness was beyond you.

“You did, yes, and naturally, you expected me to stop whatever I was doing to come here and listen to whatever irrelevant bullshit you had to tell me concerning some irrelevant bullshit in your life. Need I remind you that I’m now senior advisor to the emperor and I actually have a lot of work to do and I’m not, have never been and will never be accountable to you or your fuck ups? Because last I checked, you don’t pay any taxes therefore contribute exactly zero to my salary meaning I am in no way accountable to any of you.”

Mrs. Kubrick was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, her eyes widened and her face red with either fury or embarrassment. You didn’t know and didn’t care. You had hit multiple sore spots and she didn’t know how to respond to any of them.

“Why did you turn up anyway if you really didn’t want to come?” Jayce asked you, hands crossed in front of his chest.

“Because one or all of you would tell your father,” you turned to Mrs. Kubrick (what was her name, actually?) who was still sputtering at you, ”or husband, in your case, ma’am who would cause more unnecessary drama and none of us on the cabinet have time for that kind of stupidity at the moment,” you promptly replied, your own impatience starting to come through.

“Anyway, I’m the one that asked for you,” Kayla Kubrick said, moving in front of her brother. You rolled your eyes. Of fucking course she did, the fucking cunt. “Why didn’t you respond to me yesterday?” she  _ whined  _ at you, crossing her arms under her bust and pushing it out, seated in between her mother and her brother, both of them still glaring at you. You rolled your eyes and sighed, leaning your cheek against your fisted hand in an attempt to show them that you weren’t even pretending to be remotely interested in this mundane conversation.

They chose to ignore your clear message, so you decided to answer them.

“Because I’d just come from a long travel and I wanted to go home and eat my mum’s food and sleep and not deal with this nonsense you and you family are subjecting me to.”

Jayce’s eyes narrowed at you dangerously. You contemplated sticking out your tongue at him, but you decided against it because you actually still had work to do and he wouldn’t leave you alone if you went full petty.

“But I needed assistance,” she literally screeched at you, making you wince at both the volume and pitch of her tone. How did people’s eardrums survive with her talking all the goddamn time.

“Indeed. And it’s my job to stop my day to day duties to come remove you from whatever stupidity you’ve gotten yourself into?” You could not have sounded any more deadpan if you tried.

You watched her attempt to splutter a response, as her mother and brother had the nerve to look offended. What atrocities had the human race committed to deserve to exist with the Kubricks?

You knew it was going to be a long day, but you quite weren’t expecting nonsense of this calibre.

Waking up in the morning had been a major issue, but then you remembered your salary was actually hard earned tax payers’ money, so you got up and prepared to go to work. You made some tea for your mama too and made sure to cover it before you left, and you were the first one to arrive in the office, removing the documents and noted you had to look at them and remind yourself of the work ahead of you. You then opened an email your mum had sent you, giving you the login information of your father’s own email and decided to comb through them and find out which official would best help you in this task of figuring which individual would be most likely to be allied to you in the Central Bank.

It took a while (you needed to go through a lot of bureaucratic bullshit to make his account somewhat functional again because he was dead) but you had barely read five titles when you saw someone who would be of great interest to you: Poe Dameron, Head of Informatics of the Central Bank. you weren’t sure whether the smile that split your face was diabolical or relieving, but you knew  _ for sure  _ that Poe Dameron would be an incredible ally. 

You did another quick search, and you saw that this man was a wealth of information to your father, and there was a great deal of trust between the two men, considering the totally confidential information they shared, even on their government accounts. In fact you were very sure that some of this information  _ should not  _ be shared on government accounts.

The sudden thought that he may be the reason you received almost prompt clearance of accessing your father’s emails crossed your mind, as you quickly wrote a quick email to him asking for a meeting. 

The smile on your face turned into relief. Maybe this issue was not going to be as difficult as you first imagined.

…

All things considered, it was turning up to be an okay day. Mr. Dameron had gotten back to you and scheduled a meeting for the next day at eleven in the morning, and you were moving on to the next issue on your schedule, before you got a phonecall from Kubrick.

Or more specifically, his assistant.

You had been curtly ordered to get to their estate as soon as possible, and because you were petty, you deliberately went in a lot later than you should have, which led to the current position you were at now.

Kayla turned to her mother and brother, asking them if they could please leave her alone with you. You personally saw no problem with that whatsoever. Dealing with one of them was always easier and significantly less mentally draining than dealing with all of them, and God knew you needed some mental strength to go on with your day today. There were some leads that had come to your attention concerning your buddies in the north that you needed to look into.

“What is it?” you snapped at her, causing her to jump a little. She probably wasn’t expecting you to lose you temper at her so suddenly.

Not that you were exactly amused before.

It took her a moment to collect herself. “I have noticed that you have been spending a lot of time with his majesty recently. I want to know why.”

For a moment you just stared at her, blinking. Your brain was trying desperately to understand whether or not she was being serious when she asked you that question. You looked like an utter dumbass you were sure, staring at her as if she had grown an extra head. She, in turn, stared right back at you, completely serious and waiting for you to answer. She took a chance to flip her hair over her shoulder, and you were sure you heard a slight huff, as if she was non-verbally telling you that you were being very rude to not answer her question.

So wait, she was  _ actually  _ being serious.

You opened your mouth, but no words came out. You decided to close it, looking at your feet and breathing out, trying to comprehend the levels of idiocy this young woman possessed. Was the fate of our empire in the hands of such people who dared call themselves the nobility? What even was critical thinking?

You opened your mouth, taking a deep breathe and trying out this “speech” thing again.

“I was recently appointed as head state advisor to the emperor, a position I share with Senior Advisor Snoke, one of your father’s staunchest allies. One of the critical roles of this job description is to give advice to his majesty concerning public affairs based off the information given to me from the public service that can help the emperor as head of state and government to properly rule the empire for the benefit of everyone involved.”

You paused, hoping the blank look on her face meant more that she was paying attention to what you were saying as opposed to being confused.

“Okay but you still haven’t told me why you spend so much time with the emperor!” Did she just  _ stomp her foot _ as she screeched at you?!

You had absolutely no idea what to say or how to react, so you simply stood up and walked away, back outside to get back to your office. You had to pass by the palace later on in the evening to give progress on what you’ve found anyway. You honestly didn’t have the time or brain cells to entertain this...whatever the hell this was.

You heard the screeching again, and you decided to sprint out of there. Nope, you decided mentally, promptly getting onto your speeder and speeding the hell out of there. Not today.

…

The rest of your day had gone on well enough. You had managed to follow up in the new information received (the insurgents had attacked again, not knowing that you had left most of your security detail that you went up there, but the attack was just as it was before, not more or less brutal than normal. Again, there was nothing targeted to the actual residents, just some damage to property and infrastructure. You thought that information was very interesting because normally rebellions never went through this particular pattern, but that was besides the point) and when you had relayed this to the emperor he seemed contemplative. He nevertheless thanked you and relieved you of your duties for the day, and you were just on your way out to go back home when you met his Grace Finn in the corridors. A simple hello and the exchange of some jokes at the expense of some families of the court had you sipping tea with his wife, still cackling and cracking even more jokes. 

“So, Rey asked, sitting cross legged between you and Finn. You were seated in a circle around your tray of tea. “I hear you’ve been spending a lot of time with my cousin.”

There was something cheeky in her voice, and it was that moment you started thanking whatever ancestors that could hear you for your skin colour because of how furiously you were blushing. “I mean, considering I’m a senior advisor and I need to confer on him for every single decision I think that’s a normal course of action.”

“Kayla Kubrick begs to differ. The way she talks about you makes it seem like you’ve become his new courtesan.”

You snorted, sipping your tea. “Because anyone with as much as two folds in their brain will pay attention to what she says.”

Both of them laughed. “I mean you’re not wrong, but I’ve seen how you behave around him,” Finn said, wiggling his eyebrows at you.

“Like a professional?” You responded, glad your voice sounded normal, hiding your beating heart and your overly hot body and your  _ extremely  _ inappropriate thoughts.

“Yes. Very much so. But really, Salama, don’t sit there and pretend that you don’t want to get into a more compromising situation with him when you’re both butt nake-”

“This is not an appropriate conversation to have in public, your Grace,” you interrupted him, feeling your embarrassment literally burn your face off as Finn smirked and Rey giggled behind her hand. Were you truly  _ that  _ obvious?

“But is it, however, a conversation to have in  _ private?”  _ Rey asked, not even pretending to hide how suggestive her tone had become. You buried your face in your hands, as you mumbled at them to please stop. They were your closest friends and you loved them dearly, but this really wasn’t the place or time for them to tease you about your crush on the emperor.

Had you actually admitted that you were attracted to him? Oh Lord.

You stood up after drinking the last of your tea, excusing yourself because you had to go home as it was getting late. You hadn’t had a chance to properly talk to your mum since you got back and you wanted to do that today. You said your goodbyes and quickly headed out to your speeder.

You got home relatively early, and you impulsively decided to go say to some of your neighbours before heading into your mum’s house. It had been a while since you had hang out with a couple of them, and since it was kind of late and you really wouldn’t be able to stay long, you were sure they would still appreciate it. You could maybe even get a chance to play with the kids a bit too.

You got home, making sure to greet your mother’s guards on your way in, who inclined their heads back at you in acknowledgement. “Mama? I’m home,” you announced as you gently closed the door behind you. She never responded immediately, which was very unusual, because she was always ready to receive you when you arrived. Without thinking twice you immediately rushed to her room, knocking gently, your right hand gripping the hilt of your father’s - or was it now  _ yours _ \- Takoba.

“Mama? Can I come in?” Your voice was quiet.

“Yes. Please come in. There’s something I want to show you.” Her voice, though steady, was small, not as confident as it normally was. You slowly walked into her room. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, and she didn’t look like she was harmed or anything of the sort. She was calmly sitting on the bed, staring down at a note. You didn’t like the look of that note.

“I’d like to say that I’m a very lucky woman and that my only child, my dear baby daughter has secured herself a job that will support her without me ever having to worry about her success and well being, and truly, Iam, but it’s then that I remember how vile some people can be and want nothing but sadness and despair for me, and I’m just but a humble farmer,” she murmured, as she handed the note over to you.

It was printed, very short and to the point. It was a threat to your mum, telling her that her life was at risk as long as you, her daughter, continued working on this case of the rebels and that you immediately surrender your Takoba to the royal armory for safekeeping.

Well, this was not how you wanted to open up your evening conversation with your mum after having not spoken to her for a week because of your travels.

You felt your temper rise at the audacity of this coward who thought they had the right to threaten your mum because they were too scared to approach you directly. You neatly folded the note and kept it in your pocket, before pulling your mama into an embrace. It was then that she couldn’t hold in her feeling anymore, and you felt, more than saw her shoulders heave, as she sobbed in your shoulder. You rubbed her back slowly, tightening your grip around her. She didn’t deserve this.

Your eyes narrowed, as you clenched your teeth in resolve.

“Don’t worry mama, leave this to me. I’ll crush this asshole like the cockroach they are. I promise you that. No one will ever give you stress as long as I’m alive.”

Someone had decided to get on your bad side.


	10. Meeting an ally and delicious experiences

You were so tired.

You wanted nothing more than to just stay in bed and sleep for as long as your body would allow you. You were tired and scared. Today was the day you were going to meet Mr. Dameron - something that lifted your spirits a little bit when you remembered - but you were also very concerned for your mother. She was a very strong lady, and the fact that this note threatening her well-being had shaken her this much was a very substantial cause of worry for you.

You sighed, as you got out of bed and begun your preparations for the day. You needed to have a word with her guards. They were the only ones at this point in time that could keep an eye out for her for you. You had no choice but to trust them.

…

“Ah, Salama. So good to actually, finally meet you.”

Mr. Dameron looked exactly like you thought he would. You didn’t exactly expect him to be in a three piece suit but you didn’t expect him to be this, well, formal either. He had on formal slacks, formal shoes, a formal blazer and a dress shirt. He had a bright smile when he received you in his office, together with his firm handshake, as he led you to his desk, before going to his coffee machine and making himself a coffee.

“Would you like something to drink? It doesn’t necessarily have to be coffee,” he said as he walked back behind his desk.

You shook your head, politely declining his offer and waited for him to settle down before immediately getting down to the issue at hand. You reminded him that he told you he had some names that he suspected, and that you’d like to have them and immediately lodge an investigation against them. The whole time, you noticed, he just looked at you, paying the utmost attention to what you were saying, never interrupting and nodding on occasion.

When you were done, he turned to his computer, clicking a couple things on his screen, before turning back to you. You noticed his expression had gotten darker, and you knew you needed to  _ truly _ listen to what he was about to tell you.

“Salama, I want you to listen to me. I’ve deactivated surveillance in my office for the next five minutes, because there are some things I need to tell you. I can almost guarantee that Snoke is somehow involved in his. He is very probably the brains behind this whole mess, and he’s probably roped in a couple of families of the court, starting with the Kubricks. I suggest you read up on what they are all about, and I can begin b sending you some preliminary material, but I can tell you right now that these people are greedy, and they will do anything and everything in their power to satisfy that greed.”

He paused here, going back to his computer again. You gathered that it was time for him to reactivate his surveillance.

“You ask me to do quite a bit of work for you, senior advisor, but I’ll see what I can do for you,” he continued, non-verbally informing you that his surveillance was back on and you should both go back to the discussion at hand. “And since you need this information for your investigation, I’ll be sure to look more deeply into it and search for more names. You said you suspect these transactions might be illegal?”

“Yes,” you replied, nodding. “I do apologise if I’m putting you under pressure, Mr. Dameron, but I’d really appreciate if you’d send me this information by the end of the week.”

“Of course, senior advisor. That is no issue at all. Your father was honestly an excellent colleague to work with and an even better friend. I am sure you and I can form an equally successful partnership.”

You smiled warmly at him, thanking him profusely before heading out of his office. It was time to go do some reading.

…

What a fucking mess.

You knew for the most part that a lot of these “noble” families of the court and a lot of people in power were driven by greed, but you honestly weren’t aware that it went  _ this _ deep. They had absolutely no regard for anyone else other than themselves, and you wondered if the Royal family was aware of just how outright terrible these people were. You were sure the emperor probably was, but you wondered if the rest of the family knew.

Snoke, you had come to realise, was the worst. He was an orphan, having been picked from the streets by the current Kubrick patriarch’s grandfather, after having managed to save his life when he stopped his carriage from falling into a ravine. He had simply been surviving, using the Force to mentally distract others so that he was able to steal food and sneak into motels to sleep in. The matriarch at the time had taken a liking to this young boy, and managed to convince her husband to allow him to stay longer, to educate and invest resources in him. Snoke’s intelligence was never in doubt, either to you or your father, but his intentions were what made him questionable. He always seemed to be very proficient with the Force, allegedly even when he was young. Nobody knew who he got his training from, not even the Emperor’s family, one of the most powerful and force-sensitive families known.

He had fought in the war with your father and the first emperor, and your father was always one of the first people to admit that it was due to some of Snoke’s tactics and his mastery of the  Force is what won them some very important and strategic battles. However, no matter how much praise he got, no matter how appreciation he was shown, it was never enough. He always wanted more, even if he never deserved it.

The Kubricks were other ones, though going by previous interactions, particularly with Jayce, you could already tell all the issues that  the Kubricks had, both as a family and as individuals. They have always had an extremely strong sense of entitlement, and no one has ever understood why, particularly you or your parents, because they all had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Even when your father was fighting with the emperor to consolidate the empire as it is today, the head of the family at the time never really did anything that could be considered useful. You couldn’t even account for wealth because the Skywalkers were wealthier than the Kubricks. At least Snoke had genius-level intellect.

You had a read on more of the information Mr.Dameron had sent you. You were aware that at the consolidation of the empire, the families of the court would not allow themselves to evenly distribute their wealth to everyone else, so to make up for it, whenever they would pay for services that required tax, they would pay double, and would be exempt from government services funded by tax money, such as public healthcare, pensions and education. They were also exempt from public service jobs. If they  _ did  _ want to use these services, they would have to pay double, and if they did apply for public service jobs, their salaries would be halved.

Naturally, this irritated most of them, and instead of conceding and deciding to pay taxes like everyone else, they alienated themselves even further from the populace, creating some kind of elitist club that no one else would be allowed to join. It was completely lost on them that no one really wanted to join their group. Even the Royal Family themselves paid taxes. You honestly wondered whether it was a lack of self-awareness of absolute denial that made them like this, but you decided not to think about it too much because, quite frankly, it wasn’t your problem.

Now you could somewhat understand where their animosity for your parents came from. You father was literally a nobody before he once gave a strategy that won the first emperor one of the most infamous battles that led to the snowball of the next consecutive victories before the enemies submitted to him, and your mother was just but a farmer, but her charisma and oratory skills won the empire a lot of support.  _ A lot.  _

Snoke despised them because, like him, they were just normal, everyday people using their skills to do extraordinary things, therefore taking the attention away from him and removing the “special” tag from him, and the Kubricks (amongst the others families of the court) because despite lacking in name, wealth and prestige, they were still far more popular and beloved to the everyday citizens than they ever would.

You were also very beloved in the eyes of the Royal Family.

You smirked. The fight against whoever it was that was behind all this bullshit was going to be uphill for sure, but it was one you were going to bulldoze through head on. There was also the issue of the note that was sent to your mother. You couldn’t shake off the suspicion that somehow these two events were connected. Reaching for your holopad, you sent Mr.Dameron a quick email, enquiring from him who you could trust to help you out with that investigation. You still had a lot of work to do.

…

You arrived home to find the guards assigned to your mum were eating dinner, and when they scrambled up to give their usual salute to you, you assured them that it was fine, they could continue eating. They gratefully sat back down. You got into the house to find your mum in greater spirits than she was the previous night, though you did notice the dagger she had by her hip, subtle as it was under her clothes. She must have been  _ truly  _ shaken to get the dagger out. You immediately hugged her.

“No, it’s not unnecessary,” she mumbled in your shoulder, her leaning her head in there showing how tired she was since she was taller than you. “Now that your father is gone who knows what Snoke is up to? He doesn’t respect you because he’s a misogynistic sack of garbage, he doesn’t believe you can fight despite him being one hundred percent sure of your combat training, and because he wields such heavy influence amongst the families of the court, how sure am I he won’t manipulate one or many of them to harm me or you?”

You breathed in, hugging her slightly tighter. This was your mama, who knew what you were gonna say even before you opened your mouth.

“I understand your suspicions, mama, but we’ve got no evidence that he’s the one that did it, or even that he’s behind any of it.”

She pulled you away from the embrace, and on her face was a look of such skepticism, you couldn't help but roll your eyes, smiling slightly and concede the point you were thinking but were too diplomatic to say. “Don’t even pretend like he’s not your first suspect.”

“He’s my first suspect on the insurgence in the north, mama.”

“And so him having one his cultists send me threatening messages isn’t connected in any way, shape or form to the north then? He knows you, like your father are going to be extremely thorough in finding out who is behind that nonsense, and he also knows, like your father once you do you’re going to go out of your way to ensure whoever it is is punished thoroughly. He knows you’re confident in protecting yourself, but I’m the one he thinks is vulnerable here. He knows you’ll do anything to ensure my wellbeing.”

You went to the kitchen, to try and get your bearings back in a semblance of order. You both knew what she was saying was true, and for now, since you’d just come off work, you didn’t want to think of any of that. You just wanted to relax, and her following you and reminding you of how you promised to play with the kids in the settlement over the weekend was her way of saying she realised this, and you appreciated that.

Hopefully, it was going to not be too bad of an evening.

…

Thus far, you loved your job. It was a challenge, and with exceptions the people you associated with were tolerable. In fact you could even say they were nice people, and though you prefered your own company, you never minded hanging out with your colleagues on occasion. However, issues such as being on call for the emperor are what totally irritated you, because it led to situations such as the one you were in now.

You were preparing to go to bed, dressed in your large nightshirt and old, faded, trousers, when you got a notification on your work holo. It was obviously his majesty, and he requested you go see him at the palace, and that you shouldn’t be worried since he would send you transport. You sighed, grabbing your Takoba and going and checking up on your mother, who was fast asleep in her room, and ensuring that there was a guard standing outside her window and the main door of the house before leaving. She was right: she was your weak link. You constantly worried about her. She honestly never deserved any of this nonsense.

You arrived at the Palace, and you were led into a room. It seemed like a guest room of sorts, with a bed, a mini-fridge and small bar in the corner, and a desk and chair. Everything was, of course, of the best quality since this was the Royal Residence. In fact you could bet that the bed alone cost more than most of your mum’s assets.

“Your majesty,” you announced your arrival after he granted you permission to enter the room. Try as you might, you couldn’t hide the tiredness out of your voice.

He turned to you, his hair a mess on his head, chocolate brown eyes staring at you. He was wearing a long-sleeved cotton shirt and loose slacks, and were your eyes deceiving you or were his pants hanging really low on his hips.

“You’re tired, anxious,” he said, voice matter-of-fact.

Your heartbeat doubled, as you swallowed your nerves and something else you couldn’t quite place. Honestly, how the fuck was he so attractive?

“It’s been a long couple of days, your majesty,” you responded.

He said nothing, motioning you to move closer to him. You did, feeling a certain sensation in the pit of your stomach that you definitely shouldn’t have. He moved a chair close to him and invited you to sit.

“I got an email from Poe. He said you visited him in his office, and you both share the suspicions of who you think is behind this insurgence.”

You nodded, promptly informing him of what information you had so far. He simply nodded, still staring at you. It simultaneously unnerved and aroused you, how he had his undivided attention to you.

“Something troubles you,” he murmured, lifting his arm and running the back of his finger along your cheek. You clenched your hands into fists to stop them from shaking. “What are you so worried about? Is it you mother?”

You couldn’t hold it in anymore. You took a shaky breath to try and calm yourself down, but the floodgates had opened.

“I can’t protect her, your majesty. She’s been threatened. Someone out there is gonna come for her, and I’m terrified I won’t be around to cut the motherfucker down. What if she’s hurt? She’s too old to go into combat, and she’s a liability. She’s  _ my  _ liability. The fucking coward behind that threat to her knows they can’t come after me, so they’ll go after what I hold dear. I’m such a disappointment. What would my dad think? I have to protect her, but there’s so much work to do, and I have to do it. She understands, and she wants me to do my best, but what if my best isn’t enough? I don’t trust too many peo-”

You were silenced with lips on your own, full and warm, and for a moment your eyes widened, and the tears seemed to stop. You must have looked ridiculous in contrast to his majesty, with his half-lidded ones. Slowly, he coaxed you to respond to his kiss, and you found yourself relaxing, shyly kissing him back. You felt one powerful arm around your waist, pulling you onto his lap, as his other hand ended up on your chin, gently pulling it down, requesting you to open your mouth for him, and he plunged his tongue in, deepening it.

Your hand were suddenly on his shoulders, and without thinking you let out a moan, which, thankfully was swallowed by him. You tilted your head and closed your eyes, running your hands through that thick, luscious hair of his and just as you suspected it was a s glorious as it looked to touch.

In response, he let go of your mouth, before kissing down your jaw, then your neck, kissing, nipping and biting. You managed to swallow the curse threatening to come out, along with whichever embarrassing sound, as he ground himself up into you, and you could  _ feel  _ him, long, hard and thick in his pants. He did it again, and with a small gasp you responded in kind, hearing his growl in your neck. God that was so sexy, but you had to stop. Now.

“Y-Your maj-aaa-your majesty, please,” you managed, trying to pull his hot mouth off you, tugging his hair gently. You felt him run his tongue against your skin and you swore you clenched, hot lust manifesting in your cunt.

Nonetheless, he pulled away with a final bite at your shoulder, making you shudder over him. He stared at you, lazy smirk on his face, his eyes glazed over with lust, hair an even worse unruly mess than before.

“So you did enjoy that,” he said, the smugness literally rolling off him.

Blushing furiously, you crossed your arms over your chest. “Not like you didn’t,” you muttered and he chuckled, the sound low, warm and masculine. He needed to just stop already.

“Goodnight, Salama. I’ll increase your mother’s security detail,” he said in that same tone, dripping with delicious sensuality and washing over you like melted chocolate. You swallowed thickly, as he helped you off his lap and stood up himself, escorting you outside.

You had literally just made out with your boss. What was real life?


	11. Round one: FIGHT!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood.
> 
> I hope you guys like fight scenes, because I suck at writing them.

“You are so flustered. What happened with Kylo yesterday?”

The question was asked in a very casual manner, very nonchalant, with no intention to tease or mock you. Either way, you never expected it, and you nearly choked on your tea as your mother looked at you knowingly, sipping her own. She wasn’t even pretending to hide her knowing, mischievous smile.

“Nothing happened with his majesty, mum,” you promptly responded, proud that your voice had remained steady despite still struggling to contain your blush. “There was just some information he wanted to share, not to mention he was slightly concerned about your well being, after the note and all.”

She continued smiling, continued eyeing you, and you were one hundred percent sure she didn’t believe you for a single second. Flustered, you wolfed down the rest of your breakfast and headed to the kitchen to do your dishes. Today wasn’t a day you could allow your mother (or yourself, for that matter) to be distracted about the feel of His majesty’s cock pressed up against you as he kissed you stupid.

“I’ll see you in the evening mum. Stay out of trouble until I get back. His majesty said he’ll increase your security today, so don’t freak out about that. It’s gonna be a long day, I can just feel it, but I promise I’ll be back and you can embarrass me more. Love you,” you muttered as you kissed her cheek, then fastened your Takoba to your side and grabbed your bag. She responded in kind, waving at you as you walked out of the door into the fresh, early-morning air. You weren’t a morning person, but this was just about the only serene thing you’d experience in a while, so might as well relish in it while you still could.

…

You had barely sat down to start your day before you got a message on your holopad. You frowned, seeing it was from Snoke, and you contemplated ignoring it. After a short internal debate, you decided to open it. It could have been important. You groaned out loud when you saw the contents. You already knew it was going to be a long day, but did it really have to start immediately you got to the office? Couldn’t it wait even for a couple of hours? To make matters worse it was going to be at his majesty’s political office, which, though not far from your own office meant that you would most likely meet and be forced to interact with people you didn’t want to.

Regardless, you made your way to the point of rendezvous, knocking tentatively before getting in, after nodding to the guards in greeting.

“Come in,” you heard the artificially deep and distorted voice say, and you entered, closing the door behind you. You turned back around to see who had attended the meeting, and predictably, it was all of the usual people, plus a few pleasant additions.

You also noticed, that Snoke, Hux and a few other heads of families of the court were in particularly sour moods, and these specific heads were huge supporters of Snoke. Something was obviously brewing here, and you were sure to get to the bottom of it. You quietly made your way to the conference table, to sit next to His Grace Finn. Opposite you were his wife, Her Grace Rey and Mr. Dameron, then Snoke and Hux. A probably contribution to their sour mood was probably demotion in seating positions too, considering how obsessed they were about social class and status.

“I believe we can now begin,” his majesty said, turning the attention back to him.

Of course the major reason the meeting was called was the budget that was being read soon, followed quickly by the insurgence in the north. It seemed you were still receiving intel which was saying the same thing: they weren’t attacking the people or their means of livelihood, just destroying the infrastructure, and how the people were now starting to get irritated, however, a few of them had been captured and the head of Interior Security had been ordered for them to be brought to the capital city to be talked to. You decided you needed to gather than information directly from them when they were done.

You thought it was over and you were about to leave before his majesty started speaking again. “I’d also like to highlight something that has been happening recently that has never happened before.”

His tone had changed, it was a lot more serious, and you were sure there were some people that were shitting bricks where they sat. “As you are all aware, Senior Advisor Oreno is in charge of investigating who is behind the chaos in the north, and recently she has taken to receiving information from Mr. Dameron, who has been of monumental help to her,” he said, gesturing to the two of you.

“In the recent past, however, both of them have been getting threatening messages directed either to them or their loved ones. Miss Oreno’s mother got a threatening note informing the senior lady that her life was at risk if her daughter continues working on this case and that the late General’s weapon be surrendered to the Royal armory. Mr. Dameron had his parents’ graves vandalised with very explicit and discriminative messages, all in an effort to get them to stop doing their jobs, jobs that they are so dedicated to because it’s what’s expected from them by the taxpayers.”

The room was suddenly silent, the tension almost palpable. You pursed your lips to stop yourself from smiling, and you could tell that Mr. Dameron was also struggling not to laugh. The fact that everyone was quite terrified after being given this information informed you that they knew  _ exactly  _ what was going on, and they were either involved in it all or they were too complacent to care. You honestly loved it when the emperor called them out like this. It did a very good job of reminding them of their place, knocking them down several notches.

“People in power are involved in the threats, as well as in the insurgence in the north. I want everyone in this room to remember that Miss Oreno, her mother - who is one of the most beloved and brilliant stateswomen - and Mr. Dameron have the  _ full support  _ of the Royal family in doing their jobs, and the moment the culprits of this entire saga come to light, there will only be one punishment, regardless of who it is.”

He stood up, prompting everyone else in the room to stand up after him. He started walking out, followed closely behind by his cousin and her husband, who were the Royal Representatives for today’s meeting.

“My grandfather once slaughtered entire families for trying to pull off these kinds of stunts, from mutinies to overthrowing him. Don’t think I will hesitate to do the same if any of you are guilty.”

You could see the sheer terror on these people’s faces. That wasn’t even a threat. Everyone knew that the emperor was dead serious and that he was not joking.

“Dismissed.”

You supposed only stiff manners stopped everyone from literally running away from the room. Mr. Dameron called you to him requesting if you had some time to discuss some information he had gathered. He saw Snoke and Hux hovering around, and he narrowed his eyes before changing his mind, inviting you to his office instead.

“I wouldn’t trust them with rusted metal, honestly. I’m also gonna print out all the information I have and hand them over to you and permanently delete them off the public service holonet. That way, I’m very sure that they won’t attempt anything fishy.”

You nodded, sighing before following him into his office. It wasn’t even ten in the morning yet.

…

“I have very good news for you, Salama,” Mr Dameron said, making you pique your head up, a little happier that this day wasn’t going to be complete shit.

“Thank you, Mr. Dameron.”

“Please call em Poe. I feel awkward when I have to be addressed formally.”

You smiled warmly at him. “Of course, Poe.”

He gestured to the visitor’s seat in front of his desk, and he immediately started giving you the information. He had figured out the people that the money that was funding the mess in the north was funneling through, and you suspected before, all of them worked in the ministries of internal security, transport and finance. It was impossible, at this point in time to realise whether or not these people were coerced into working with whichever higher ups were in charge of this or not, but Poe (and now you) knew for a fact that these accounts weren’t private: they were opened for this sole purpose. The reason they were able to be kept so secret was that there was a high ranking Central Bank employee who had instructed the bank in question that they would be the ones who would be solely managing the account. Poe was trying to figure out who it was, but it was proving to be difficult. What he was absolutely sure about, however, was that the Kubricks and the Layals were the owners of the bank that the accounts were opened in, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that they were at least somehow involved in this mess.

“I have a hunch this person in the Central Bank knows that someone’s onto them, so they’re doing everything they can to protect themselves. If they get outed, it’s obviously the end, because then everyone else involved will be known and it’s gonna end very well for them. I’ll continue figuring this out there. There is definitely a weak link somewhere, and I’ll find it for you. Don’t you worry.”

“Thank you very much Poe. I really appreciate it.”

…

You weren’t even outside the Central Bank building for ten minutes when you were attacked. It was almost instantaneous, because your gut told you that something was about to happen, and without even thinking you threw your bag with all your documentations under a speeder, withdrawing your Takoba and blocking a broadsword that would probably have sliced your arm off your torso. Immediately pandemonium hit, with people screaming in the streets and running around, away from the chaos you were involved in. The person that attacked you wore a mask, but from the corner of your eyes you saw the insignia of the military on the cuff of their shirt.

Holy shit this nonsense was getting deep.

You sighed, and you a second of hesitation on your attacker, and you took the chance to push them off.

“Those fuckers have the military roped in too? I’m very unimpressed,” you said nonchalantly, carefully looking around and counting about three other people with ill intent. You shrugged, smiling ironically. “And they sent four of you to try and shank me in broad daylight, in one of the main and busiest streets where most of the public offices are. Surely, do people not comprehend the concept of subtlety?”

Just like before, it was sudden, when two people lunged at you. It wasn’t haphazard either, but deliberate, planned. These were very highly trained officials, knowing what to go for. You noticed that their main attack wasn’t to kill, but greivally wound, probably make you incapacitated in some way in the long term. You could tell from the organs they were aiming for.

What they probably weren’t aware of (or they had promptly forgotten) was that your father was the ex-General of the army, and he was easily one of the best combatants up to the time of his death. He had trained you in combat, noticed that your strengths lay in brute strength and durability, so he taught you how to didge, how to use wits to your advantaged when faced with adversaries who were inclined to speed and agility.

Adversaries like the ones you were facing now.

This was extremely suspicious. You also noticed that none of this people had said a single word to you thus far. Perhaps they were spprehensive that you could be able to ID them that way.

You were still apprehensive at being able to fight in the streets, but everyone else, though scared, was curious enough to peek from thier offices or behind speeders and trees. There were a couple of quiet cheers when you sent one of these goons rooling, but so far no blood had spilt. You knew it was inevitable: these people, whoever they were were not leaving here until you were at most, very heavily wounded.

“You have twenty seconds to tell me who sent you after me,” you said clamly, you voice loud and clear. “If not, I highly dount all of you are going to get out of here alive.”

Naturally, the reponse you got was one of them lunging you. You grit your teeth, moving out of the way at the last second and watching them stab their colleague right behind you. There was a shrill screech behind you, and from the corner of your eye you could see the few people looking absolutely shocked. The poor asshole behind you could barely produce any sound, choking out blood before falling in their knees and dropping down, dead and unable to hit the floor because there was a fucking broadsword haning from thier stomach, blood pooling over the sword and the ground below thier torso. The stabber was physically shaking, thier colleague’s blood drop on thier face, thier eyes widened, in utter disbelief that they had killed on of thier own.

“Who sent you?” you repeated, your own stomach turning at the sight. Still, silence.

They all leaped at you simultaneously - one of them had tears in their eyes - but suddenly one of them just stopped, eyes wide and dropped to the ground from the air like a sack of potatoes. You noticed there was a neat, round hole on their temple, ozzing blood. Sniped.

You turned around, to see where the sniper was based, and for that moment where your concentration shifted, you felt a searing pain across the length of your bicep, before a warm runny liquid over your arm, before another unfortunate goon was sniped, though this time the bullet hit thier chest, and the other person was suspended in the air, choking and gasping because they were unable to brethe, thier hands clawing soemthing on their throat and their legs kicking aimlessly.

What the fuck? Were you still alive? Were you dissociating?

You looked down at your hand, watching the blood flow down from a nasty gash on your bicep, and you felt woozy, you head weak, your throat dry. You body felt like it was made of paper, and your vision was darkeing. Fucking blood loss and shock, the best combination ever.

You never heard someone yell your name, or didn’t know who’s arms you ended up falling in, because your fall was a lot cushier than you anticipated, as unconsciousness finally gripped you.


	12. Royal pleasures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My updates aren't as frequent, I know and I'm sorry. Life comes at you fast sometimes, and I'm currently dealing with that.

Your eyes popped open and you were gasping, but the bright lights literally blinded you, and you closed them again, groaning in discomfort. Your voice sounded hoarse and scratchy to your ears, and you could feel a headache coming on. You breathed out, already giving up when you had just joined the world of the living. This was not how you were expecting to wake up after having a street brawl with state military who were out to kill you.

You tried opening your eyes again, this time slower so as not to blind yourself. The roof you were staring at was far too high to be the one in your mother’s house. It had a huge chandelier hanging from it and it had been painted in beautiful, vibrant colours. You and your mum never lived in abject poverty, but you also never lived in opulent luxury either, and that chandelier probably cost enough to furnish about half your house.

Your body felt very heavy when you tried to move your arms, and despite the fact that you were warm and comfortable under the covers, you moved your eyes around, to try and gauge where exactly you were. The room, though minimalistic was expensively furnished, with a desk and chair in one corner and two separate doors. One of them obviously led to a bathroom and the other you assumed led into a wardrobe. You weren’t sure exactly where you were, but you hoped at least your mum knew where you were.

You shifted a little in the bed, trying to sit up, a difficult feat, considering the sudden and searing pain that zapped through your arm, the very arm that was sliced open. It was now heavily bandaged. 

“Ah, Miss Oreno, you’re awake. Is there anything you need?” A voice addressed you. It took you a moment to realise that it was one of her Grace Rey’s ladies in waiting here. That automatically meant that you were at the Royal Palace. How did you even make it at the Royal Palace? Last you remembered you were falling into someone’s arms but you didn’t know who. Aforementioned lady in waiting rushed to your side and helped you up, fluffing the mountain of pillows behind you as you leaned back into them and she handed you a glass of water. You managed to croak a than you before you gulped it down, and another one and then a half.

“No, I’m fine, thank you,” you finally responded, when you remembered you weren’t alone in the room. “Where exactly am I, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“You’re in one of the guest rooms of the palace,” she responded, which, when you thought about it, made perfect sense. “I’ll go tell her majesty the Queen Mother you’re awake. She specifically asked me to.”

She didn’t even wait for you respond, as she was out of the room the moment she finished the statement. You breathed out again, a mixture of conflicted feelings going through your mind: relief, embarrassment, gratitude and fear. You had a lot of questions, and you hoped, at least, her majesty would help you answer them.

Contrary to what you thought, her majesty never came alone. She was accompanied by her husband and her brother, followed by her niece and her husband.

“Oh Salama, are you alright? Are you at least feeling better? When Kylo and Poe brought you you were a mess, but luckily the doctor was able to stem your blood loss before anything too drastic happened,” she said, immediately placing the back of her palm on your forehead, no doubt feeling for a feve. The look of concern on her face for your well being warmed your heart.

“Could be worse. For instance I could be missing my arm, but now all I have is an ugly bandage across my entire bicep which will then be removed to show an ugly gash which will eventually heal to form an ugly scar and will be a good story to tell from the children at my village,” you responded, you voice dry. You noted the smik of amusement on Lord Han’s face.

“I like you, kid,” he said, watching both his majesty Luke and her majesty Leia roll their eyes.

“I like you too, my Lord,” you smiled back.

You wanted to ask about your mum - you were one hundred percent sure she was extremely worried, but the elders thought that perhaps it was time for them to leave. “We just wanted to confirm that you were doing better. It’s great to see that you are, but you clearly still need some rest, so we shall leave you for now. You need to rest, since that attack on you seemed to be pretty vicious. You’ll probably be released tomorrow,” His Grace said, as he followed his sister out. You were left in the room with her Grace Rey and his Grace Finn.

You leaned back in your pillows, breathing out your exasperation. You heard his Grace chuckle.

“The least they could have done was tell me where my mum us and if I can see her,” you mumbled.

“She’s outside, actually. She’s with Poe. They are waiting for us all to finish seeing you first before they come in. I think she also wanted some reassurance that you’re somewhat in one piece before she sees you. There’s a lot of stories going round about your arm, and for the most part they are pretty out there, if I’m honest,” Finn said.

It was your time to roll your eyes. Of course there would be. You were attacked in broad daylight on the streets. “I doubt I’ll be able to breathe the moment I get back home. Am I hailed as a hero or does everyone hate my guts?” You were honestly amazed at how  blasé you were being about this whole situation.

“Everyone’s actually pretty hype about you from what I’ve heard,” Rey said. “One of the most extra ladies who says she witnessed you fight first hand said that you went out of your way to ensure that civilians didn’t get hurt or involved in the whole mess, and you stayed in the middle. Most people are actually singing our praises at how well you can fight, and predictably a lot of nobles aren’t amused. Last night you were most of the news.”

You didn’t even know you were dozing until your eyes popped right back open. Last night? How long had you been out for?

“Anyway, I think we better get going now. Her majesty is right: you definitely need to rest. We’ve established that you’re all peachy. If you want we could tell you mum to come and see you for a bit.” FInn said, looking at Rey and nodding his head slightly in the direction of the door.

You nodded. “Thank you. Please tell her I want to see her.”

They acquiesced to your request as just a moment later your mum walked in followed by Poe. she immediately run in, grabbing your face in her hands and kissing your forehead gently. “Oh my baby. I was so worried. I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, pushing your face into her bosom, nearly suffocating you. You could hear Poe chuckle at your dry wheeze.

“I’m fine, mama. Thank you,” you responded quietly, wrapping your own arms around her and returning her embrace. Your arm stung a little since this was literally the first time you were moving it, but it wasn’t too bad. You could tolerate it.

“Poe is the one that sniped those two idiots that tried to kill you, so you really should be thanking him for helping save your life.”

You turned to Poe, who just looked at you and inclined his head gently, still with that small smile on his face. You thanked him gratefully, and he was more than accepting of your gratitude. You yawned then, immediately realising just how tired you still were. You wondered what drugs the doctor had pumped into your system, because you were feeling kind of weak.

“You look exhausted. Doctor said you should have at least two days bed rest, so maybe we should let you rest. We’ll come back and talk to you tomorrow. There’s a lot of news I need to tell you that will help you in your current job,” Poe said, concern etched all over his face.

“Not to mention his majesty the emperor is supposed to be coming too. He needs to see you, since he’s literally the one that rescued you. You still have Poe to thank for that by the way,” you mother added, redoing a plat on your head that had most likely come apart as you slept. “I expect you to behave yourself in his presence. I’m very aware that you’re attracted to him, and I honestly wouldn’t put it past your thirsty ass to-”

“Muuuuuuuuuum,” you whined, covering your face with your hands, feeling the heat seeping through due to your humiliation. You heard Poe’s low chuckle, as he good-naturedly asked your mother to leave, informing her that you would be fine and she had brought you up well and  _ of course  _ you would behave yourself in the presence of the emperor.Why was she like this?

Regardless, you were grateful when they left. You turned to your eyes, yawning one more time before you promptly went back to sleep.

...

It was still relatively dark, so you doubted that it was morning yet. You allowed yourself to stay awake. Apparently you were on doctor’s orders to stay on bedrest today too, so you opened your eyes and turned around and pour yourself a glass of water. You looked at the time: two in the morning. You wondered what you could do to entertain yourself. There was a bookshelf next to the window. Well, you thought as you got out of bed, perhaps there could be a book that you could be interested in, read until such a time that you’d fall asleep again. Your bandaged arm was a lot less sore this time, and for this you were thankful. Now you could move it about without that weird pain shooting up your arm.

Just as you had settled back into bed, your holopad beeped. You stared at it in disbelief. Who would honestly be up at  _ this  _ hour? You took a peep on the screen to see that it was none other than the emperor, and from the history you say that he had beeped you every two hours since you last slept, requesting you to get in touch with him when you woke up, if able. Now there was the possibility that he was asleep himself and he had set that up on automatic, but the fact that he had gone through the effort to ensure that you knew he wanted to talk to you informed you of his urgency.

Of course, as your mum pointed out earlier your were also thirsty, but that really wasn’t the point right now.

You immediately responded, sending him a message telling him you were awake. You kept it quick and simple, not wanting to bombard him with too much text at two o’clock in the goddamn morning. He responded immediately, telling you that he was on his way over. You wondered what it was, exactly that he really needed to tell you.

You heard a gentle knock on your door, and his majesty walked in when you responded. He was dressed exactly as the last time you saw him alone in his quarters, but this time he had a large black, long-sleeved shirt. He still had the black, fluffy slippers, and you noticed how your lips twitched at the sight of them.

“My uncle got them for me. He thought I’d despise them, but they are really comfortable and very warm,” he said, looking down at them himself when he noticed where you were staring. You had forgotten what his voice sounded like without his helmet distorting it, warm, masculine and making you feel things at the pit of your stomach. He moved towards you, towards the bed, and though you knew he had no ill motives, there was something about his slow, almost predatory gait that had you nether regions tingling.

“Uh, your majesty, what can I do for you?” you asked, very proud that your voice was steady, thirst notwithstanding.

His response was a smirk, and he tilted his head to the side, and it was at that moment that you knew he would ask you to go slaughter all the noble houses and you would do it in a heartbeat.

“May I ask you for a favour, Salama?” his voice was lower, huskier. It had taken on a much more sultry quality as he crawled on the bed towards you. You swallowed, a thick ball of lust, and you already knew the answer before he asked it. “Allow me to indulge myself in you tonight.”

“Yes. Of course.”

It was almost instantaneous. One second you were sitting there, staring at him and thinking how much your mum would tease you for this, the next second you were on his majesty’s lap, your arms wrapped around his shoulders as he devoured your mouth, one of his powerful arms wrapped around your waist to hold you against him as the one dipped onto your bum and  _ squeezed,  _ making you squeak into his mouth and jump slightly.

Not wanting to be left behind, your hands explored, one of them going to his hair, thick and luscious. Your hair and his were completely different because you were black, but even you knew healthy hair when you could feel it. For a split second you wondered about his hair regimen before he tilted his head slightly and bit your lip, pulling you closer against him and causing you to gasp, taking the opportunity to dip his tongue in your mouth and deepen the kiss. Your hand, now flat against one of his pectorals, fisted into his shirt, grabbing onto the material for dear life as you shifted against him, relishing his grown deep in his chest that you felt more than heard, and the feel of his muscular thighs beneath you and his hard abdomen.

Honestly this man’s sex appeal was unrivaled. You were sure he was created by Adonis himself, and you were quick to pull his shirt out of the way and run your hands over his smooth skin, hot and battle scarred under your fingertips, as you felt the muscle beneath. Lean, chiselled and defined, and just to make it clear how utterly thirsty you were, you mewled into his mouth when you ran your hands over his abs.

He broke the kiss, pulling you off him and for a moment with lust quickly clouding your mind you just stared at him, his eyes half-lidded, the chocolate brown significantly darker and slightly glazed from his own lust. Fill lips slightly parted, before he glanced down, his hair framing the rest of his face as he pulled your shirt off your head, and you were generally not self-conscious but you could feel the heat off your face as he just stared at you, half naked on his lap. He ran a calloused thumb over your left nipple and you moaned quietly, before without saying a single word he bent down and captured it in his mouth, licking and sucking on it. 

At that point you didn’t care about inhibitions, you moaned in pleasure, grinding down against him and your eyes popped open again when just like a couple of nights ago, you felt him, long, hard and thick in his pants, and you highly doubted you had ever been more aroused in your life. It was at that moment that you realised just how desperate you were for him.

Your hands headed straight for his pants, and you dipped them under his waistband, slightly embarrassed but mostly delighted that he didn’t have any underwear on. He knew exactly what he wanted the moment he left his own room and you could respect him for that. He growled again, that low, masculine sound, and you had to bite your tongue to stop whatever humiliating sound was threatening to come out. Both your hands were now on his pants, and you pulled them down, sighing in appreciation when he lifted his hips so that you could take them off, before he did the same, pushing you back on the bed on your back, before he leaned over you, supporting himself on his elbows.

It was then that you noticed just how massive he was: broad shoulders, muscular chest and thick torso. Even his arms were huge, nothing but sheer muscle.

“You’re stunning,” you managed, running your hands over his arms. From the corner of his eyes you saw the side of his mouth twitch, before he bent down and placed a gentle kiss on the corner of your mouth, before he moved down, his body barely above yours as he kissed you, biting on occasion. How did he even know you  _ liked  _ that?!

“Open up your legs for me,” he whispered, and you did, before he took one of them and placed it around his hip, and you did the same with the other one, as he wrapped one arm around your waist, supporting you against him. For the second time your arms were around his broad shoulders again, and you felt the muscles there rippling as he balanced both of you, and then he slid in in one smooth thrust, and you moaned at the sensation, of how thick he was and how he filled you completely, your walls struggling to squeeze and accommodate him.

He paused for a moment, before pulling out, something you did not appreciate because of the sudden emptiness you felt, but he snapped his hips back into you, and at that point, you were too far gone to even vocalise your pleasure. He did again, slowly setting a rhythm, his thrusts slow and languid, almost lazy but still so through and deep, that with every thrust his tip hit your cervix you were sure. It was probably supposed to hurt, but at that point you never knew or cared, all you knew was that your hips were moving in rhythm with his, and it wasn’t long before you felt your body heat up from the inside out, your thighs trembling against his. His hand that was previously holding you wiggled in between you bodies, and you felt his thumb on your clit, pressing in tune with his thrusts.

“That’s it,” he murmured, encouraging. “Lose yourself around me, cum for me.”

And at that, it was too much. White light flashed behind your eyelids, and with a loud wail of his name you came, trembling under him as you clamped down on his cock, looking to milk him dry of his seed. A few thrusts later he followed you over the edge as he growled your name in your shoulder as his hips jerked roughly over you, before you felt him spill himself up inside you, and you were sure as you both were going through his orgasm, you could feel some of his cum flow out of you.

He immediately turned as he collapsed on the bed, his back on the bed, and you sprawled all over him. You fell asleep before he could cover you both again.


	13. The murk is clearing

The bed was so warm and so comfortable, and as much you loved your sheets, you didn’t remember them being  _ this  _ luxurious.

You tried to stretch your legs, but moving them was proving to be a little bit difficult, considering they were tangled with other longer, much more powerful ones. Not to mention the soreness that was suddenly awakened around your midsection, which, of course, promptly reminded you of what exactly you were up to last night (and with  _ whom _ ,) before you blushed so hard you were wondering how your face hadn’t melted off yet. 

Your constant fidgeting had caused his majesty to shift slightly behind you, breathing out loudly through his nose as he pressed himself against you, and you were promptly reminded of his nudity as his crotch was against your bum. You glanced down, and you saw his arm wrapped around your waist, holding you against him, and in curiosity you placed your own arm over his, amazed at contrast between your skin tones, his white against your black.

“Morning,” he murmured above you, prompting you to loosen his arm and turn around to face him, which made him tighten his grip again. His hair was a mess, and you moved to remove some strands that had fallen over his eyes, taking the chance to run your hands through his hair again.

“Good morning, your majesty,” you responded, your fingers tangled in his hair as you buried your face in his chest.

“It’s Kylo. I think we’re well past formalities and titles at this point,” he muttered, pulling your bonnet back over your hairline. You mentally appreciated that. You wanted to stay with your edges for as long as possible, thank you very much.

“Alright then, Kylo. Do you have any errands to run today?” His name felt good rolling of your tongue, but you still waggered it would take a while to get used to it. You had never called him by anything other than his title, and now, as he said, you were well beyond formalities and titles, it was time to change that and start addressing him by his name.

“I do yes. It involves the members of the military that tried to kill you. I have been called into interrogation. There’s obviously information they are hiding,” he said, but the implied words were clear.

Force interrogations were exceptionally rare. In fact throughout the empire’s history, it had only happened once, and then, the very first emperor was forced to do it to foil a coup against him. Granted some members of the military tried to murder you, a high ranking government official in broad daylight was obviously a big deal, it still said quite a bit when the emperor himself was called upon to contribute to this interrogation.

“Is it a court martial?” You asked tentatively, subconsciously pulling him closer to you. He conceded, wrapping both his arms around you, burying his face in your neck as he nodded. Oh boy, this was about to be a trip.

“I’m not looking forward to it, but they almost killed you. You and the rest of the populace deserve answers.”

He had a point. Nonetheless, you stayed like that for a moment, before he detangled himself from you, getting out of bed and putting on his pyjamas. 

“Rest. If you want I could connect you to the proceedings. Objectively it’s part of your job to know what’s happening anyway. I will be back, hopefully when I’m done.” He already sounded tired and his day hadn’t even begun.

You nodded, turning in bed and covering yourself with the blankets again. You already knew it was going to be a long couple of months, and you, like Kylo was also not looking forward to it.

…

“Look at you glowing, Salama. Kylo must have railed you pretty well last night, hmm? Leia do you mind if I ask around if anyone heard anything? She’s generally very loud, so I doubt she’s be quiet when she’s having her fun adult time with her partner.”

These were the first words your mother said when she walked into your room, followed closely behind by her majesty, the Emperor’s mother. You have never wanted your mattress to swallow you whole more than this moment, but because this was literally impossible, you resorted to the next best thing, which in this case was covering yourself with your various blankets and sheets.

“Mum, please,” you mumbled from under the covers. Was the Empress mother  _ laughing?! _

“Did you take a shower as well? Have your sheets changed? Don’t want to have you sleeping in semen, vaginal fluids and sweat. You’re not feeling very well and we all want your stay here to be as comfortable as possible,” she added, which, in turn, prompted your mum to start giggling herself. Why were they like this? This was honestly so humiliating.

“Please stop,” you muttered again, going deeper into your beddings. If they had come to tease you you might as well ask them to leave because you needed more time to process all this.

“Anyway, teasing aside, we brought you some breakfast. Kylo informed me earlier that you were doing a lot better, so we thought we should come and visit,” your mum said, and when you heard food your head immediately popped up, because  _ food. _

Both of them gave you a moment to get to your food, and when you were munching happily on your french toast, you noticed the mood was slightly more sombre again. You looked up at both the older women, and your mum was looking at you, as her majesty was looking up at the television screen you had in your room.

“The interrogations are about to start,” her majesty said quietly. You swallowed heavily, both your food and the apprehension that had quietly been building. “I would prefer not to watch it, however if both of you want to watch it, then i suppose now is when I will take my leave.”

You wanted to point out that part of your job description was to watch how this interrogation would go, but you reasoned that this really wasn’t the time. You remembered how she, despite being a very powerful Force-sensitive herself, underwent through intense psychological torture (it was called “psychological assessment” by the perpetrator, but everyone knows it was psychological torture) by her own father, who was under the mental control of aforementioned perpetrator. No one is entirely sure who the perpetrator was, but it’s heavily speculated - and almost entirely agreed - that this shadowy individual was actually Snoke’s master.

Due to this, she eventually ended up having, at best, a shaky relationship with her father. Of course she’s very well aware that he was being mentally manipulated, but she was strongly of the opinion - and her majesty was known to hold and express her opinions very strongly - that her father most likely had the power to break from that mental control. After all, he was one of the most powerful Force-Sensitive individuals in the recent past. As a result she absolutely despises interrogations, especially if done by an individual that is Force sensitive. No one argued with her on that. She obviously knew exactly what she was talking about, going by the fact that she had experienced it, but she also understood sometimes, the state had no choice and had to pull out the more...questionable strategies.

This obviously was one of those times.

Your mother looked at you and nodded once, asking without words if it was fine to leave you alone. You nodded in response, recognising that her majesty needed your mum’s presence now more than anything. You had your notebook and pen anyway that your mum had brought you to take notes as the interrogation went on. To be perfectly honest, you were slightly scared at what you would witness, because you knew her majesty to be one of the strongest women you knew, and to see her react like this at the mere mention of an interrogation said so much more than any of her words would ever express.

Soon, however, your screen automatically came on, and what you could see - through a one-sided mirror, you noticed - were the three survivors of your little brawl in the street the other day. By this time you were alone in your room, and you decided it was time to focus. The three of them were facing the window, you and everyone else could see them, but they couldn’t see any of you.they were seated next to each other, and you couldn’t see their hands, but you were sure they were subdued in some kind of way. This was, after all, a court martial, and you knew all possible risks had been mitigated.

Generally, from their body language you could see that they were quite terrified, staring down at his hands, but the one that caught your attention was the one in the middle, the blonde. He was very pale, though probably some of it could be due to his current situation. His colleagues, both with brown hair on his right and left respectively, were looking straight ahead, stony faced. The one on the left probably looked a little more scared, as you noticed the subtle tremble of his lower lip, but otherwise he was like the other guy, stiff as a statue, probably knowing what they had gotten themselves into, knowing how much problems they had brought upon themselves, and knowing that only they were the ones to blame.

Just then his majesty entered, clothed in black from head to toe, his crown levitating over his head. It was just then that you noticed no one could see any skin when he was fully dressed, and just from your few interactions with him you could understand why. It was a good intimidation get up, because his maj-Kylo was very tall and quite muscular. He was also very expressive, particularly those beautiful brown eyes of his, and you supposed the helmet did a good job of hiding the expression that passed through his eyes and his face when he was dealing with something as delicate as an interrogation. In this particular case, it also worked because his dress code served to remind these three just in how much shit they had gotten themselves into.

“Why did you attack Senior Advisor Oreno?” he asked them, a little menace leaking out of his deep, distorted voice. It seemed he was getting straight to the point, not even bothering with greetings or small talk. He was slowly pacing up and down in front of them, and none of the perpetrators could dare to look at him.

Much to his displeasure, silence met his question.

“Let me rephrase,” he said, eerily calm. He stopped, facing the same direction they were, a mirror. “Who sent you to attempt to harm Miss Oreno?”

More silence. Kylo eyeballed them, before settling on the one in the middle.

“A change of tactics, then. “Sean, I have some enquiries I want answers to.” You couldn’t exactly tell who he was addressing, but the flinch of the young man in the middle when he said the name ‘Sean’ made you deduce that he was addressing him.

“Yes, your majesty,” he answered, his voice so small he might as well have been wheezing.

“Everyone knows of your close friendship with Jayce Kubrik. Everyone also knows that he is the primary reason you joined the military.” He stopped, most likely for dramatic effect. Honestly he was so extra, and it wasn’t entirely his fault because his  _ whole family  _ was extra. “Everyone also knows of his antagonism towards Miss Oreno and her mother. I want you to tell me if both of them, due to Miss Oreno’s investigation of the insurgence in the north was motivation for the four of you attacking her and caused the resulting death of your colleague.”

“I didn’t cause Camille’s death. Fucking Salama did,” he suddenly blurted out, his voice high-pitched and shaky. Just as suddenly as he had spoken, he kept quiet, as his eyes widened when he realised just what she had said.

“Camille, hmm,” Kylo hummed, still staring at himself in the mirror. “Are you, by any chance referring to Camille Talon, of the Talon household?”

You honestly weren’t in the same  _ building  _ as these people and you could feel the tension through your television screen. This dude was literally shaking at this point, you could see it from the reflection.

“I am going to ask you one more time, and I expect nothing but the truth. If you either decide to keep quiet or lie to me, I will extract the information from you by force, and I can assure you that it’s an extremely painful experience for you. So, is the reason you attacked Miss Oreno because she’s investigating the insurgence in the north and what is the connection between that and the note threatening to assault her mother?”

The silence, once again, was almost deafening, but suddenly the one on the left of Sean spoke up, most likely terrified out of his mind.

“Yes your majesty,” he started. He was trying very hard to hide the tremble in his voice, but it still managed to leak through. These young men must have been undergoing true fear. They were some of the most elite members of the military, and one thing you knew about the training they went through to get here is that it took a lot,  _ a lot  _ to induce such fear in them. You were aware of this because your father was the one who designed their training.

“I don’t know the specifics, but I was approached and ordered to attack her. We were told to do it during the day, since that way it would be easier to convince the local populace that she was a threat against the state. I don’t know about the note, however, I - I apologise.”

You noticed that Sean glared hellfire at him, but never said anything.

“Who exactly ordered and assigned you to this mission?” Kylo asked, his voice lower, softer. You stiffened in the bed. You weren’t an expert on body language but going by his stance and the clear, succinct way he asked the question, Kylo seemed to be getting annoyed. You never wanted to annoy a Skywalker. They were infamous for their short, volatile tempers as they were in their Force abilities.

All three sat in their chairs, not saying a word. The man to Sean’s right was crying.

The glass in front of Kylo was cracking. Oh boy. 

“I believe I have made it very clear that I don’t like repeating myself. Who the  _ fuck  _ gave you that order?” he snarled at them, his voice cutting through the tension like your takoba. You actually winced.

“Senior advisor Snoke,” you young man that had been sniffling earlier said, almost squeaking. There was a yellow liquid under him, and it was dripping slowly from his chair. Suddenly, all three of them started gasping in the room, as if they were running out of sufficient oxygen supply. You swallowed nervously, hoping someone would be able to reach him. He was suffocating those guys, because of his temper his Force abilities were leaking out, and for people who weren’t Force sensitive that kind of power was nearly detrimental to them. That dude had been so terrified he had literally peed on himself.

Suddenly, the dudes gasped out roughly, coughing and panting, getting much needed oxygen back into their lungs.

“The two of you are suspended without pay. I’ll order an investigation to see if you were forced into this mission under duress, and if you were you will promptly be reinstated back to service, and this will not appear on your records. If not then you will be taken to military confinement and your immediate superiors and I will discuss your necessary punishment.” He turned around, looking right at Sean, and going by the way he clenched his fists behind him, it wasn’t rocket science to figure out what he was feeling.

“You, on the other hand, are going straight to solitary confinement for the next six months, then you will be punished.”

His guard immediately walked in, and dragged all three of them out, as a cleaner came in to clean up the room.

Welp.


	14. When they underestimate your intelligence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a wild couple of weeks, in between mental illnesses and fandoms disappointing me. I hope you enjoy it.

Well, this was going to be quite an interesting day now, wasn’t it?

Kylo had asked both the advisors and all heads of families of the court to a meeting in his palace. When you got there, you found Finn there as well, patiently waiting for the rest of you to arrive and take your seats. You swallowed in apprehension. If Kylo was involving another member of the royal family in this there was someone he wanted investigated and he didn’t trust these nobles to do it. Kubrick, you noticed arrived with his son, and they were both very timid. They knew they fucked up, because they knew they would be pulled into all this somehow due to Sean. you could have felt sorry for them, but you doubted they deserved it. They had no sympathy or empathy for anyone else, not even each other, so they really shouldn’t expect it to be extended to them.

Snoke and Hux’s very obvious presences weren’t lost on anyone, and for some reason your gut couldn’t stop telling you that they were up to no good. Regardless, that wasn’t what you were here for, and as for them, you just had to wait and see.

“Your majesty,” Thomas Kubrick said, a very tiny but imperceptive tremble in his voice. “Excuse my bluntness, but may I please know why Miss Oreno is here?” you honestly had to give him credit for trying to hide the animosity in his voice. Granted he failed, but you could give him props for effort. You knew you never had the effort for hiding your own irritation at people you didn’t get along with. There was a reason diplomacy wasn’t your strongest suit.

Kylo, Finn and Rey all looked at him, with Rey raising her eyebrow, an incredulous look on her face and Finn looking like he was just about to stand up and backhand his idiotic ass out of the room. Kylo, of course, had his helmet on, so you really couldn’t see the look on his face, but you were sure he wasn’t particularly amused.

“She’s a senior advisor to the state, Thomas. Considering that I don’t need to explain to you that your summons here has quite a lot to do with matters of public policy, it’s obvious what exactly she’s doing here. I thought you had even the most basic critical thinking skills, but it seemed I was wrong.” His modulated voice sounded so bored, and going by Kubrick’s rapidly reddening face, he had achieved his full intention of humiliating him.

It was the day after the interrogation. Sean, the person that had close connections with the Kubricks, more specifically, Jayce, was in solitary confinement, (and not for the first time either, from what you could see in his military report) whereas his colleagues were at their respective homes. Upon getting a good read of their file you saw that they were first time offenders, and before this particular incident they seemed to just be minding their own business, joining the military for educational and professional purposes respectively. One very important piece of information you had managed to get was that it was Kubrick that approached them about three months ago. You had a feeling that timeframe would be important in figuring out this bullshit going on in the north, so you saved that information.

Because of the association of Sean and Jayce the Kubricks awere called. Jayce up until this time had not said a single word, had not looked in your general direction, his eyes low, staring at his hands, folded in front of him in his lap. Considering how abrasive he normally was, it was something of a surprise to see him so passive. It seemed like he had gotten an earful from his father, who was known to be quite abusive in his quest to control and mould his family, bending them to his feel so that they can live up to whatever expectations he held for them at the expense of their individuality.

And to think they thought you would willingly marry into them. In retrospect you wondered what exactly it was they were on that day.

“You know why you’re here, Thomas, Jayce, so I’m going to get straight to the point. Why didn’t you advice Sean against attacking Miss Oreno?” Kylo asked, deceptively clam.  At first he was met with silence, but you had a feeling that he was trying to think of how he could answer the question without earning more of the ire of the emperor.

“We didn’t know he was involved in this mess, your majesty,” Thomas said slowly, risking a glance up at him. Kylo never said anything at first, but you noticed how he constantly clenched and unclenched his fist.

“Didn’t you? Despite the fact that he’s always hanging out with your son? Despite the fact that he’s always feeding you information about what happens in the military? You’re going to honestly sit there and tell me that you have no idea that this young man was involved with a plot to assassinate one the state advisors?”

Kubrick opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He chose silence, though it didn’t take rocket science to see that he was getting pretty scared.

“I apologise, sir. I really don’t think it’s in my place to tell a fully grown adult the decisions they can make.”

It was silent for a while, before you lost it, snorting before bursting out in laughter. You were the only one that was laughing, and you noticed, as you leaned forward clutching your stomach, how everyone was staring at you as if you had lost your damn mind. You were tearing, and your stomach and your jaws hurt from laughing so hard. That was the biggest lie you had ever heard Kubrick say up to date, and despite the fact that he was a despicable sack of garbage, you could respect the sheer gall he had to blatantly lie at all of you in this room.

Thomas Kubrick was the epitome of toxic masculinity. He was extremely controlling of his family, and in public he had been shown to be horribly verbally abusive of them, even Jayce, who everyone knew he doted on as his successor. It legitimately would never surprise you if he was emotionally, mentally and sexually abusive to his wife and daughter, as he never even bothered himself with them, which was an explanation of why they were both so atrocious and seekers of attention. You were sure they were crying out for help, but because they were also pieces of shit, you doubted they would accept it if it was offered to them. Kubrick knew he was an absolutely shitty person, and he knew no one really liked him, so he hid behind the power, wealth and influence of his family, which explained why he despised other families of the court and families like yours even more than normal, because those were things that could never intimidate them.

“Salama shush,” Finn whispered towards you, shaking you slightly, as you wiped the tears from your eyes. You took some time to compose yourself before you sipped some water and excused yourself and apologised. You wondered how everyone else could sit there with a straight face after Thomas fucking Kubrick had literally fixed his mouth and said, out aloud in public, that ‘it wasn’t in his place to tell a fully grown adult the decisions they could make.’ you really started to doubt whether this man was a real and corporeal being. Who the fuck was this and what had he done with Kubrick?

“I’m sure Miss Oreno’s incredulous laughter says a lot more about that statement than anything else ever will. I would have thought that by now you would have realised lying to me - in public, no less - would never work but considering you lack basic critical thinking skills giving you the benefit of the doubt and hoping you at least had some common sense was too much to ask for.”

He turned to Finn. “You’re in charge of this investigation. Find out how the Kubricks are involved in this mess Sean has decided to create for himself. You are also to investigate his buddies and how they were roped into this. Of course at this point in time it is reasonable to deduce that they were most likely coerced into this, but one can never be too sure. I understand that the Talon house is currently in mourning at the loss of one of their daughters, but if you feel the need to do so, investigate them as well. They aren’t quite on this idiot’s level of sketchy, but they are pretty up there. You have full investigative authority on this. I expect a full report within three months. Dismissed.”

Everyone slowly stood up from their chairs, some having a lot of contemplation to do, others like yourself going back to work. There was so much to do all of a sudden, things coming at you so fast. You wondered if this was how it all happened even when the first emperor came to power. In your case, however, you knew that there were human forces behind this, people who were deliberately making your lives harder. You made a mental note to ask your mum if this was how it was for your dad and the first emperor as well.

You were just about to walk out, heading to your office to look over and see if there was any new information to continue looking into your investigation when you saw Smoke, normally seemingly so fragile, bursting into the room with quite a bit of strength, followed very closely behind by Hux, with Captain Phasma apologising profusely to Kylo, as she respectfully chastised the former too for very rudely walking into the room.

“Ah, what a pleasant surprise,” Kylo said, his voice so dry and flat you could actually hear this expressed through his modulator. “Right on time too. I should honestly applaud you for your promptness.”

You felt the hairs at the back of your neck stand on end. These people were not bringing good news.

“I apologise you majesty, but we don’’t bring good news. Something absolutely terrible happened and Armitage and I made the immediate decision to investigate, which is why we didn’t turn up to the meeting. We will be sure to get up to speed with everything, however.” For someone who claimed to be very empathetic and very much for the people, he didn’t sound like he was even feeling bad about the news he was about to deliver. You understood professionalism and having to be calm before addressing your boss, but his voice just seemed extremely detached, like he was reading a financial report.

There was a short and tense silence for a moment, and you narrowed your eyes at him in the few moments that you managed to hold his gaze. It was no secret that you wouldn’t trust him with a dry twig, but how would there suddenly be something bad happening just at the time when he Kubricks were being asked to explain something beyond even their normal realms of questionable and neither the emperor or other high ranking civil servants or even the royal family had no idea of it? There just seemed to be something very off with this entire situation.

“Pray tell, what is his devastating news you have to share?”

Snoke risked a glance at you again, and Hux seemed to be looking everywhere but at you.

“Mrs. Kimberly Oreno has been kidnapped. Her guard seemed to have been incapacitated by some sort of sleeping gas, as they are not harmed in any way, but they have been unconscious for a while, and can barely remember anything.  We have been searching everywhere, but have yet to find her.” He turned to you, his disfigured face twisted into something you couldn’t bring yourself to try and decipher. You were sure you were shaking, and your mind was slowly blanking out, your throat was drying up, and the only sound you could coherently register, other than Snoke’s rough growl was the blood roaring in your ears.

“We are working as hard as possible to find her. We will be sure to inform you the moment we find her. We cannot ascertain whether or not she fought, was injured or is even alive. She just seems to have disappeared.”

You stumbled for a moment, supporting yourself against a wall. No, this could not be happening. Your one fear, your  _ only  _ fear, one that had given you countless nightmares multiple times was happening. It was actually happening, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. You had failed to protect you mum. You had  _ failed  _ her. She was all you had left. What would your father thing? You were very sure he was extremely disappointed. How would yo-

“Miss Oreno?  _ Miss Oreno? _ Are you alright?” you heard a voice address you, seemingly like it was coming from miles and miles away. It was Captain Phasma,  Captain of the guard. You suddenly realised that you were seated on a chair. How did you get here? You have absolutely no memory of moving onto a chair. You know that you stumbled, but you were sure you hit a wall, or some other vertical surface.

“I - yes - sorry. I - thank you Captain. I’m fine. I just, I gotta go home. Right now. I need to leave,” you muttered, more to yourself than anyone else, immediately standing up - not stumbling this time, thankfully - and walked out.

“Miss oreno, there is something - “ the captain tried to say, but you were already walking off, her voice getting lost in the distance.

“Not now, Captain, later,” you mumbled again, seemingly walking faster. Your mind was working at a million miles a second, as you were backtracking, trying to think of what your mum was doing the previous night. You weren’t with her, but you know that she’s a creature of habit, so you could reasonably figure out what she might have been doing last night before her alleged disappearance, but you needed to be home to do it.

You seemed to have been functioning through autopilot, for you were soon at your front door. Everything finally came into focus, and the rest of the villagers were simply staring at you, looking like they were willing to help, but they were scared of approaching you. You smiled at them, nodding once slowly, and they understood. If you needed them they would be there for you, and you were truly thankful to have them there. This was why you never wanted to leave here, even with you appointment to public office.

The second you walked into the house, you noticed a lot of things did not add up. Even with your anxiety going on overdrive, you were still able to rationalise. When you were communicating to your fellow villagers you noticed there was no damage on anything, including the door. As much as Snoke had told you that your mum’s guards had been gassed, she always kept the doors locked and the only people that had a key were you and her, and even if her kidnappers could have had some forethought to copy a key, they would either need an original or have to bring a locksmith to the house, none of which had happened you were sue, because the villagers would have informed you.

Secondly, the house looked the way it always did. It wasn’t too neat, like someone was trying too hard to make things look normal, but it was just as your mother had left it. She had her small idiosyncrasies all over the place, still homey and welcoming.

You even went into her room. Everything was neat and tidy, She even left her pressure medicine bottle partly unscrewed, something you knew only  _ she  _ did and she did it  _ deliberately  _ so that you and your dad would always know that she was fine. You highly doubted anyone else knew she did this.

Time to go back to the palace. Something here quite wasn’t adding up.


	15. A mess gets messier

You honestly wondered what would happen if you were ever caught.

You honestly felt like a child, and a foolish one at that, as you stood here outside the palace, waiting for the guard exchanges before you could sneak into the corridor and run like a mad woman to Rey’s room. You had told her about your plan to come over and she had agreed with you - a little too easily, you suspected - and she said that she would leave her door open for the duration of the exchange. After the replacement guards had taken their places she had to lock up her door again.

After you realised that your mum had not been kidnapped, you didn’t know what to do for a moment, so you decided your next course of action was to contact her Grace Rey, one of your closest friends and probably someone who could help you in this time. When you told her that your mum was missing though you were sure she hadn’t been kidnapped as Snoke claimed, she told you to meet up with her in her room, but you had to sneak in so that no one knew you were there, and she was polite enough to send you a map of how to get to her room in secret. In retrospect you should have questioned it, but you really weren’t in the right place mentally, so you couldn’t judge yourself too harshly for that.

You looked at your watch. The exchange would be happening in about three or so minutes, which meant that you had to start scaling the wall. By the time you’d gotten to the top, it was clear, and you hauled yourself over the window seal and sprinted as if the devil was at your heels towards her Grace’s room. You knocked twice, waited some seconds and then turned the door handle, hearing the latch quietly loosen. It was open, and you got in, securely closing the door behind you.

“Oh hi,” Rey said, sitting on her dressing mirror, calmly brushing her hair. You quite didn’t know how to react seeing her in such a domestic setting, so you just stared. “You made it. Nice.”

For a moment you wanted to ask her how she could be so relaxed about your mum being kidnapped, but an instinct or other told you to calm down first, so you took the time to take in her room instead.

It was quite lovely, and like Kylo’s was also very expensive and tasteful without being overly extravagant. You could tell this was a family that had had wealth for a long time and therefore didn’t have the need to inform anyone that cared how rich they were. The furniture, in this case a large, king size bed and matching bedside drawers, wooden with intricate patterns and painted, and the dressing table and the stool, were all high-quality wood, the floors tiled, with rugs placed in certain positions. One of the walls had massive french windows, with matching curtains and rapes, though they were now closed, because it was at night and Her Grace was preparing herself to go to sleep.

“Is there something that I don’t know that I’m somehow supposed to?” you asked tentatively. Straightening yourself. She motioned you to sit on her bed, which you did as she turned towards you.

Rey smiles, a tiny smile, more cheeky than anything. “There  _ is  _ something you should know, though objectively it would be expected that you wouldn’t know it.”

You stared at her, blinking in obvious confusion. What was going on? She stood up,  pulling a jumper over her t shirt, putting on her fluffy sandals and taking you by the hand. “Come. It’s time to go see Aunt Leia.”

Why...were you going to see the Grand Duchess, you thought to yourself. You paused your musings to make the observation that you were not using the orthodox path to aforementioned Grand Duchess’ rooms, but there seemed to be a back room, which you could understand, since win a consolidated empire no matter how much the royal family tried to ensure there was equality and equity and everyone, there were still some ethnic groups that were still unsatisfied, so secrecy and discretion was still important in everything, from movement to communication.

Instead of being ushered into a bedroom however, you were ushered into some kind of lobby. It was very comfortable, with poufs instead of chairs and small stools, one for every two poufs. There was a table that had snacks and drinks, and Finn was sitting in one of the poufs.

Next to him was your mother.

For a moment you just stood there and stared dumbly, your mouth open and your eyes wide. You were very sure your brina was broken, or you were hallucinating, or you were dreaming. Perhaps you had somehow ripped through some other dimension, because there was literally no conceivable way you could think your mum was just sitting there, nursing a mug of what looked like hot chocolate, staring at it wistfully as if it would give her the answers she was no doubt asking.

“M-Mum?” you asked dumbly, still staring. She looked up at you, giving you a small smile before putting her drink down on the stool in front of her and walking up to you, giving you a huge hug. You still stood there motionless, your mind still finding it quite difficult that your mum was fine and in one piece, though admittedly after visiting your home you knew that objectively nothing too terrible had happened to her. You finally caught up with the present and you hiccuped, immediately hugging her back and taking multiple deep breaths wanting to really cry but having no tears coming out.

“Oh my goodness mama, I’m so glad you’re okay,” you gasped out, your brain somehow managing to form coherent thought. You stayed like that for a while, absolutely not wanting to let go. She was here and she was fine.

“I’m alright, my baby. Don’t you worry about me,” she responded quietly, gently running her hands in your braids, which you were sure were still slightly greasy because you’d recently oiled them. “Sit down and let’s wait for Leia. We do owe you an explanation.”

You followed her lead and went and sat down next to her, as Rey ordered some hot chocolate for you too.

In a matter of moments the grand duchess had joined you, looking a little more dishevelled than she should. “Sorry, Han’s around,” she said, slightly breathless. You honestly never knew whether to be traumatised or relieved, because the she was like your mother. You really didn’t want to know what activities she indulged in with her husband in private.

She nevertheless joined your little circle. “Okay, it’s great that everyone is finally here. Let’s start with explaining to Salama what’s happening, then we can get to the next course of action.” She turned to you, her facial expression serious.  “Now, as you know, Snoke was in your last meeting going on about how your mum has been kidnapped. Luckily, that never happened, but it was about to happen. I’m not sure if Snoke is aware, but I know for a fact Hux is. Thomas Kubrick was about to send some goons - Finn highly suspects they are associated with Sean, the kid that is Jayce’s friend that was sent to assassinate you the other day - to kidnap her, but Captain Phasma managed to overhear that conversation and could quickly instruct her guards to smuggle your mother out of the house. They managed to get back and get her some clothes for a couple of days and her pressure medication for three days. The bottle was brought to her herself so that she could set it the way she normally did. She trusted you would be able to figure it out, and she really wasn’t wrong.”

She paused for a moment, taking a sip of water before continuing.

“She also knew that you were most likely to get in touch with Rey or Finn when you figured out that something wasn’t quite right with this kidnapping, so Phasma and her bodyguards played out that scene, using very precisely scented and dyed incense to stage the ‘gassed’ guards and enable Phasma to get your mum here. She’s going to be staying here for a while, until the worst of this blows over.”

You paused for a moment, taking in everything that you had heard so far. This was wild.

“Does Kylo know?” you asked carefully, somewhat already knowing the answer. This explained a lot of things.

“I haven’t told him yet, no. I will soon though. Don’t worry about that.”

You nodded in understanding. This explained why Kubrick was more uneasy than normal. He was worried that his plan didn’t quite work out, and going by how well you knew the royal family, things were about to get much worse for him.

“Alright. This is...a lot to take in, but I get it,” you mumbled. “What about you, your Grace. What tales do you have for me today?” you asked Finn, looking at him. There had to be a reason he was here as well, and it wasn’t just to escort Rey.

“I’ve got some stuff to tell you from my investigation that will help in yours,” he said, putting down the papers he was reading and leaning forward. “Now, you’re investigating the conflict in the north: who may be involved, how they are so coordinated, where they are getting their weapons from, and all that other good stuff, no?”

You nodded, not having a good feeling about this.

“Sean, the dude that is Kubrick’s friend and that attacked you, he’s involved. I’m not sure just how deeply he is in this mess, but I can tell you that he’s the one that ‘s in charge of sending the weapons to them. He is the one that’s choosing the weapons and sending it to them, though someone else is funding the actual raw logistics: fuel, maintenance of the trucks driving up there and paying the drivers and their co-drivers. He is also sending the plans and informations: when and where to attack and why. He is the one that’s instigating them to attack , because for some reason he is very disillusioned with this government - throughout my investigations I found out that Sean is an orphan, no name, no family, but he was found by the Kubricks, who took him in and gave him just the bare minimum he needed to get into the armed forces. He still in touch with his ethnic group, since they are, in general a very communal people, and for some reason he has gotten them to do what he says without questioning, since he’s the most successful and accomplished of them all - so he has somehow managed to convince them that the government hates them and that they should rebel, and this is the best way for them to do so, destroying the infrastructure that the government spends money trying to improve.”

Jesus Christ this was a mess, but it seemed as though Finn wasn’t done yet.

“I’ve sent Poe the necessary documents and all the info I’ve got. I suspect Kubrick, or at the very least his son is involved in this, but obviously not directly, so because there is a lot of money and different banks involved, Poe is the best guy to find out since he has access to this information, and he can do it publicly too since I gave him my signed clearance from Kylo giving me full authority to get this information for the investigation. He can then use this info to pull up everything I need to know, and I can then connect my clearance to you and transfer it over, since it’s obviously gonna help with your investigation as well.”

You paused, giving yourself the time to take all this in, connect the dots, so to speak. This investigation was going to be even more complex than you thought, and that was saying a lot since you already knew it was gonna be chaotic at the very beginning.

“Okay but what does all this have to with my mum getting kidnapped?”

FInn sighed. You couldn’t blame him. He had talked a lot. “We aren’t sure, but what we know for a fact is that all three of these things have one very blatant fact in common: Kubrick is involved. We just need to figure out with what extent before indicting him. We don’t know what his intentions are, but Kubrick, even when his father was in charge in the time of the First Emperor was always a dodgy family. They were always unpopular and spiteful and thought their wealth would get then what they wanted, and when it didn’t all it did was increase their spite. They knew they were mediocre, and they mostly leaned on their privilege to get things to go their way, and if it backfired they couldn’t seem to take it very well. It seemed like they were trying to get revenge for all the alleged injustices that have been happening to them.”

God this was so much to take in. You could barely think.

“I...think I need to sleep. I need time to think this over,” you said. “I gotta go home. I could just send in notice that I’ll be in the office a bit later tomorrow. Jesus Christ…”

Nobody said anything as you requested Rey to lead you back into her room to have you sneak back home. Was this really what you signed up for when you accepted this job?

…

Honestly, you were convinced that all the information you had been told the previous night was a dream, that it wasn’t real, but when you got into the office at about ten in the morning, and saw the email from Poe telling you that he had gotten the information form Finn, and Finn telling you that he was working on linking your royal permissions together so that he can transfer the information he has on Kubrick to you for your own investigation, you were promptly reminded that yesterday evening in the grand duchess’ lobby was, in fact, very real.

You also could not help the feeling of extreme trepidation you felt tightening your chest when you saw Armitage Hux sitting in your VIP lobby, waiting to see you. He apparently had some very important information to tell you. 

At this point you were sure you were suffering from information overload and felt like you couldn’t take in anymore, but instinct told you to see Hux.

“What can I do for you today?” you asked him after offering him a seat. You noticed despite his normal poise there was something like a heavy heave when he sat down.

“It was Kubrick,” he said slowly, quietly, as if he was scared someone was listening in.

You were quite shocked at what was happening, but you pretended to be unmoved. You needed to get more information out of him.

“What has he done?” You asked, almost nonchalantly. The next time you looked at him only sheer self-control stopped you from falling of your chair.

From the untrained eye, it seemed as though Hux was normal, indifferent even, but you knew better. There was a very thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, and his eyes  were darting everywhere, as if he was on the lookout for something. His nostrils were slightly flared and his knuckles you noticed, when you glanced at them where whiter than whipped cream. To say he was terrified would be an understatement, as if he was scared he was being observed.

“Kubrick is the one that kidnapped your mother,” he whispered, almost frantic after a few minutes of tension. You never said anything for a moment. You needed to play your part.

“How do you know?” you asked, keeping your voice calm.

He was opening his mouth to say something, before you got a call from your receptionist. 

“Senior advisor Oreno, His majesty, the emperor demands you to go to his office immediately.”

You turned to Hux. “I have to go. I’ll get back to you on this.” You were out of there faster than he could respond.

What the fuck was happening?


	16. Making love

Kylo was restless. He was in an absolutely terrible mood, and you weren’t sure how to deal with it. 

When you got to his office, his secretary was literally trembling when she told you to have a seat as she informed him that you were there. You were honestly very surprised at how she managed to keep her voice steady. You were ushered in immediately, and you could hear his modulated voice over her receiver. You made sure to smile warmly at her, thanking her and hoping that, at least, reassured her.

When you got into his office you got to see just how...tense he was. He could not sit still for even a moment. If he wasn’t pacing up and down he was standing against his window, his hand on the frame tapping his finger on it. Even when he sat he kept tapping his foot on his perfectly carpeted office, clenching and unclenching his hands. He was extremely intimidating with his large frame, breathing heavily through his helmet and his robes swishing about behind him.

You stood still, somewhere between the door and the chairs in front of his desk where guests sat. you quite frankly didn’t know how to react, so you hoped staying quiet and letting his pace his nerves out would be the best course of action.

Suddenly he stopped, looking right at you, as if he had just remembered that he called you. Your heart beat tripled, because you quite weren’t sure what he was thinking or how he would react to you. Your held each other’s gazes (well, you thought you were holding his gaze since he had his helmet on) for a few more seconds, before he invited you to take a seat, going to sit behind his desk himself. He took off his helmet, hooking his thumbs underneath it, followed by the usual hisses and sighs from it, and he took it off his head. 

From a casual observer he looked normal, the same way he always did, but you knew better. There was a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead, not quite as bad as Hux’s earlier, but it was damp, and his hair was slightly dishevelled. His lower lip trembled, and you couldn’t tell whether it was from fear, rage or sadness.

You quite weren’t sure what to ask, so you decided to be neutral. “What’s the matter?”

He took a deep breath. “The Kubricks are at it again. They are trying to cause discord within the kingdom and taking advantage of the resulting chaos to try and take the crown for themselves.” 

You stared at him, blinking. That was a very bold claim. Fortunately for you, he was able to see this and could elaborate on his own without further prompting from you.

“When my grandfather was fighting to consolidate power in the empire, the Kubricks were one of the first families to pledge allegiance to him. It was a good agreement, because my family had the Force and the charisma, and they had the finances. The heads of the families agreed that the emperor would be chosen by the people, and for that reason they had to make it very clear to the locals that they would be choosing only once so they needed to choose wisely because the family they chose would be the one that would rule over them forever. They also informed them that the ruling family and the resulting nobles would always be accountable to them and they had the right to demand for accountability for everything the people in power were doing at all times.”

“The Kubricks, however, went on a secret campaign to against my grandfather, smearing his name and committing multiple atrocities in between battles, and for a short while they were believed, until a little girl saw and heard a family being slaughtered because they refused to pledge allegiance to them and refused to guarantee that they would talk badly about my grandfather for a fee. The little girl went back to her village and informed her mother of what she had seen and heard, and it just happened that the family that was slaughtered just happened to be that of one of a relatively high-ranking soldier in their armies. An investigation happened and this turned out to be true, but the information was covered up because the Kubricks paid a large sum of money to multiple people. More than once I have considered releasing the truth for the masses to hear, but I also wonder if it is truly worth it.”

You sat there, staring at him in shock, and he seemed to notice this as he simply stared at you for a while, a look of concern on his face. It seemed this whole mess happening now started a while back.

“It’s probably why he attempted to kidnap your mother. He was trying to goad you into making a rash decision, something he can hold against you because he was always jealous of your father, of how he had achieved everything he had through nothing but sheer hard work and determination, and how he had come to be loved and cherished by the people he served. He thought the moment your father had died he could get rid of all of you much easier, but then he was wrong. You are doing an excellent job, and with your mother as your support system, you are only going to get better. He doesn’t want that, because again, you are going to take away his glory, like your father did.”

How did you even get involved in this whole mess?

You dropped your gaze, staring at your hands in your lap, internalising all that you had heard. It seemed like the Grand Duchess had finally told him exactly what was going on. What now?

“What are you going to do?” you asked.

“Simple. Suspend him.”

Well, this was going to be a mess.

…

You had gotten home early today. There was so much work to be done, so much information to understand and internalise, that you decided to =do what you could then go home. You couldn’t even call Hux and continue your prior conversation. You sighed.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. You were slightly suspicious, because no one ever visited you or your mother at this hour. In fact nobody visited your mother because as far as most people were concerned she was kidnapped. You rushed to your room to get your Takoba, fastening it on your hips before you went to open the door.

You were quite surprised, to say the least when you saw who was there, and for a moment you just stared, blinking a couple of times. It had been a pretty adventurous day, so you really couldn’t put it past yourself to be seeing things.

“C-Captain Phasma,” you managed almost breathless. You cleared your throat, starting again. “What can I do for you? It’s pretty late in the evening.”

She inclined her head slightly at you in greeting. “Miss Oreni. His majesty the emperor requests your presence at the Royal Palace. He asked me to come and escort you there.”

You nodded in response, asking for a few minutes to grab some few things and that you would be joining her shirtly. You went back into your room, packing a few things for the night and for tomorrow, before joining her and you both walked in comfortable silence towards the palace. You got to the main entrance and she nodded at you once, telling you that her job was done, and you thanked her, before promptly walking towards Kylo’s quarters. You wondered what exactly caused him to call on you this late in the evening.

You got to his quarters and knocked the door, waiting a few moments before he allowed you go in. you did, finding him already in bed, shirtless, hair a mess and reading a book. You tried really hard, you really did, to not run your eyes up and down his torso, over his broad shoulders, muscular chest and sleek abdomen. He hadn’t even flexed, just bent his arm and you could see the streamlined definition of his biceps, and your throat went dry.

Sex appeal of this magnitude should be promptly illegalised.

“What’s the matter, Kylo?” you asked, not only proud of how steady your voice was, but also of how you never let out some of the extremely inappropriate thoughts currently circulating in your mind.

He looked up at you from his book, and it was then that you could truly see how fatigued he was. He had dark shadows under his eyes, which were also slightly bloodshot. He was frowning too, and you could literally see the fatigue on his face.

“I’d just...like some company,” he said quietly, closing his book and moving over on the bed. You moved closer, removing your pants, shoes and jumper, adjusting your headscarf and getting into bed next to him.

“It’s been a bit of a difficult week, and I’m not looking forward to tomorrow,because I have to deal with them formalities of the suspension of the Kubricks.”

Ah yes, you’d forgotten about that. He had already suspended them, they had already most likely gotten the message and they had the whole night to panic and freak out about it. Not that they had anyone to blame but themselves, but since Kylo would have to call a press conference for it, that would be more than a circus tomorrow. You were also not looking forward to it.

You reached forward and hugged in, just lifting your arms and wrapping them around his shoulders and pulling him towards you. He literally melted into your embrace, wrapping his own arms around your waist and pulling you onto his lap, breathing in deeply. Your shirt rode up against your thighs, bunching around the middle of your legs as you straddled him, and you just stayed there for a few moments.

He pulled himself off you, closing his eyes as you brushed the hair off his forehead, before he put his hand behind your head and pulled you in for a kiss. It was slow, sensual, but also intense. Your hands moved to his hair, running your hands through his silky strands, and he lightly tilted your head, gently nibbling on your lower lip and running his tongue over it, one hand at the nape of your neck, slowly massaging your little hairs there as his other hand reached your bum, gently squeezing.

You gasped, and he dipped his mouth in, sliding his tongue against yours and you sighed again, melting into him and kissing him back. You broke off a while later, needing to breathe, your hands on his bare chest, his clutching your shirt.

You sat up straight, tugging his pants down (he had no underwear, and you blushed when his dick, half hard at this point, sprung out, as he kicked them off his feet, while he took off your panties, throwing them on the floor with everything else and you took off your own shirt.

He was completely naked now, pulling you back onto his lap, his cock straight and rigid, ready for you, precum already settled on the tip. “Go on then,” he muttered, looking at you. “Make me feel better. Make love to me.”

Well, he did ask nicely. Who were you to refuse a request from an incredibly sexy man to make love to him?

“Don’t move,” you muttered, as you lowered yourself over him, grabbing his cock, already a leaking mess, thick, long and hard in your hand. His hand immediately flew to your hair, and you risked a glance up at him. He was looking down at you, gaze half-lidded, full lips slightly parted as he breathed shallowly, his arousal evident. You took his tip into your mouth, and you clenched when you heard his growl, getting ever wetter, low and rouch. You sank lower, hollowing your cheeks and flattening your tongue, trying to take in as much of him as you could, sinking down onto him, and you heard him swear. You could have smiled, but instead you moved slightly up, his cock how in your mouth, making sure to run your tongue on the vein under him, and his hand tightened in your hair, his hips bucking up into you.

“I can’t, not now, I wanna cum inside you,” he gasped as he gently pulled you off of him, taking both of your hands and putting them on his shoulders. You blushed again, but you decided you could agree to that.

You moved closer to him, giving yourself leverage by clutching his shoulders. You lifted yourself over his cock, directing the entrance of your vagina on his tip. The grip he had on your hips tightened, and he let out a low growl as you sunk onto his dick, the sound clashing terribly with your own mewl at him filling you completely.

It always surprised you how massive he was, completely stretching your walls over his throbbing cock, his entire length rubbing on your ridges, fucking you so deeply. You reached his base, literally sitting on him for a moment, giving yourself time for your walls to stretch around and accommodate him. He sunk his head on your shoulder, panting, his hot breath on your skin.

“So. Fucking. Tight,” he rumbled, his voice stiff with restraint not to just lift you up and fuck you sore. “So hot, so wet, holy fuck you test my self-control every goddamn time.”

Was it just you, or were you literally getting slicker by his voice, his words, his raw arousal and desire for you?

Biting your lip (and feeling your ego grow about three times), you slowly rose all the way until his tip, feeling him gasp roughly, before sinking down on him again, slowly, deliberately, relishing in his grip on you tightening, watching his muscles in his arms straining with his struggle to control himself.

It was exhilarating watching him like this, his exertion manifesting itself in front of your very eyes as you pleasured him. At the same pace his hips started moving with you, most likely instinctively. As you sunk down he rose, and as you rose he retracted. A few strokes in he lifted his head, throwing it back on his headboard, groaning so deeply you literally felt it on his body, eyebrows knitting together, eyes closed shut, lips parted and breathes leaving his mouth in short puffs. You moved your hands along his muscular torso, broad shoulders to his muscled chest to his sleek abdomen, over to his biceps and forearms, still riding him, keeping your pace slow and deep. He was somehow relaxed, but his body was hard from arousal. You smirked, using every ounce of control you ever had to keep your pace slow, completely and utterly enjoying the control, the ability to torture him so.

From under you, his thighs were tightening, signalling he was going to unravel soon. Yes, you thought to yourself. He’d cum before you.

“You’re very smug,” he said, staring at you as you stared back, still riding him, feeling on top of the world because of this control you have over him. “I wonder, Salama, what you’re thinking?”

You kept your mouth shut. You both knew what you were thinking, that this one time since you were the one in control he’d cum before you, but it turned out that was a lie. Goddamit.

Your face heated up so fast that for a second you thought you had randomly caught a fever. You felt one of his hands snake in front of you, and you were helpless to stop it. He brushed the hood of your clit and your entire body trembled, almost making you lose your slow momentum on his dick. He pushed into your folds and rubbed your clit once, the pleasure so intense you only managed to bite your lip to stop the wail from leaving your mouth. He circled the little bundle of nerves repeatedly, keeping your pace slow, even, until your body gave out and your orgasm hit you like an electric train, as you allowed yourself to scream his name, coming undone on his cock.

He continued with his even pace, fucking you still through your orgasm, his thrusts harder, until he reached his own release, growling roughly and spilling his seed into you, hips jerking roughly. He pulled you off, settling you by his side as he sunk down onto the bed. You shifted slightly, folding yourself next to him, feeling his semen flowing between your thighs as you curled yourself to enjoy his body heat as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling the covers over both your naked forms as you allowed sleep to welcome you into its dark, secure hold.

God you could get used to this.

 


	17. When Life Comes At You Fast

You were expecting today to be something out of a drama series, but this was a little too much.

It had all started the previous night, when the emperor had called for you, needing some company, company that you were very happily willing and able to provide. The next morning you were the first to get up as eight (it was a weekend, thankfully) but Kylo woke up about twenty minutes later, still finding you in bed, draped all over him because his grip on you was so tight no matter how hard you tried to get out, you were unsuccessful. So you gave up, deciding to stay in his arms, enjoying the feel of him against him and admiring both his profile and the contrast of your skin colours.

You stayed in bed some more, sharing some passionate kisses, not wanting to face the day, but after a while Kylo allowed you to pry yourself from his arms and go to the shower. If he was going to make the announcement suspending the Kubricks on that day then you obviously had to be there and you were intending to look at least presentable. He offered you breakfast of course, because he said not only his mother but  _ your  _ mother as well would scold him if he didn’t, and he was still getting used to dealing with two mothers and that made you laugh. God knows you both needed it.

After showering and breakfast, you went back home to change into some smart casual clothes, and get ready to go to his majesty’s office and call for a press conference. You decided to make something small to eat as the press arrived and set up. You decided, for some reason, that you should do a quick detour through your office to get a notebook and a pen to take any notes for the meeting with the other heads of the families of the courts after the conference, and you nearly fainted when you saw who was waiting for you when you walked out of your office, in the lobby.

“What the hell?!What are you doing here?! What do you want?1” you demanded, your impatience slipping into your voice.

Kayla Kubrick was clearly dressed to disguise, with a shawl on her hair and large sunglasses, a simple t shirt, jeans and sandals, and from them you could see her perfectly manicured toes. She had also foregone her usually expensive and unnecessary jewellery, and she stood in front of you, fidgeting with her hands, her legs crossed, clearly nervous. For a moment you felt slightly sorry for her, since, you thought, this was probably utterly humiliating for her, having to literally sneak her way into your office to at least try and talk to you. How she even knew you’d be in your office at this hour was something you would contemplate on later.

Her disguise was very good, but you could recognise her anywhere, going by her general behaviour and body language.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m inconveniencing you,” she begun quietly, her voice small and vulnerable. You relaxed your stance slightly, your empathy tugging at your heart, but you were still slightly alert. “I desperately need your help. My whole family does. I know you don’t like us at all. Nobody does because we are horrible and greedy and we have done horrible and greedy things but please, I implore you, please listen to me and help my family.”

Shocked couldn’t begin to describe what you were feeling. You stared at her for a moment, blinking, wondering whether you were dreaming or hallucinating. You never thought you’d live to see the day a Kubrick would come to you (or anyone else, for that matter) and literally plead for help. This must have been a huge blow on her and her family’s pride, but it must have been truly something that for once, even their wealth and influence couldn’t get them out of.

You looked at your watch. You had some time. You invited her to take a seat. She was so nervous she could barely sit still.

“What exactly is going on?” You asked her, making sure to keep your voice neutral. You could see her barely holding back her tears as her lower lip trembled. Oh boy...this was going to be a trip.

“My mother and my brother don’t even know that I’m here, but they really aren’t doing much to try and sort out this mess we’re in. I didn’t know what to do, so i just thought  that I should come to you, since you seem to have the power and authority to be able to at least try something.” It took a lot more control than you’d have liked not to roll your eyes. Why did everything in this family have to devolve to power and authority? Nevertheless you allowed her to continue.

“My father is in a catatonic state,” she began, her voice cracking, shoulders slumped. It seemed as though she had truly given up at this point. She took a moment to compose herself before she continued. “He is currently in hospital, in a private ward. Nobody knows, other than us and now you. He didn’t take the news that we are going to be suspended well. We don’t know how long he’s going to be there. Or even if he’s going to be alright, but for now my brother is head of the house. I don’t even know if father will be able to make it to the meeting later.”

She choked here, sobbing quietly, her shoulders heaving with the effort. She sniffed once, removing her shades and wiping her eyes with her sleeves. You felt very awkward, not exactly knowing to react or comfort her at this time. You were sure it was pretty difficult with her and her family, but you weren’t friends, at all. You couldn’t even say that you remotely got along, but she was risking quite a bit to come and seek your help. So you just sat there, looking around the room and wanting more than anything to get the fuck out of there, but you had no excuse. You still had time to get to his majesty’s office for the press conference.

“Alright,” you said calmly, looking at her. “Um, what exactly would you like me to do for you?” you asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible. This was beyond awkward. You never really knew how to deal with crying people, particularly if the people crying were those you never quite got along with in a fundamental level.

“I know it’s hard but could you please try and put in a word to the emperor for us? Maybe plead on our behalf to give us another chance?” Her voice was cracking again, but you had to be realistic. What she was asking of you was almost impossible, if not entirely impossible.

“I’m sorry Kayla, but we both know that’s a very tall order, even for me. Actions have consequences, and this one time your family had truly gone in over your head, and now you just have to deal with it. His majesty has already made up his mind, and at this point I doubt there’s anything that can be done to change it. What about the other families of the court? Don’t they have a chance to defend you or something?”

For a moment, she paused, before she immediately stared at you, and you could see the rage in her narrowed eyes, her lips pursed and her fists clenched. Her overall body language was stiff, and you were sure you could see her lower jaw tensed. You swallowed, yourself fidgeting in your chair and moving slightly backwards in defence, bringing your hands in front of you not meaning to offend her, because you had clearly offended her. You thought that these noble families normally came together to ensure that they maintained their wealth, but it turned out you were wrong. How were you to know, though? You were just but a middle class child.

“I apologise if I offended you,” you said carefully. You noticed her rage had subsided and she had gone back to the fatigued body language of before.

“No, you’re not in our social circles. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

For someone who was begging for help, she really seemed to have an issue dropping the snobbish behaviour and arrogance. Yet again she was a Kubrick. They weren’t particularly known for achieving expectations. You also decided to have a talk with Finn about this alleged conflict with the families of the court.

Right now, however, you had things to do. “I truly am sorry for your current situation. I hope things end up working out for you. Please excuse me, I’d like to lock the office.”

Without another word or glance to you, she got up and walked straight out. You could have been offended, but then again she was a Kubrick. She was probably angry that you couldn’t help her, and you doubted she had the self-awareness to realise that you couldn’t help her because you honestly didn’t have the power or authority to do anything about her situation, not because you were being petty.

Oh well, actions did have consequences. You had a job to do. The people demanded that you did.

…

You honestly couldn’t pay attention to what his majesty was saying even if you wanted to. You hoped that he would understand afterwards, because you knew the gist of why he was calling for this press conference in the first place: he was suspending one of the major families of the court, the Kubricks, who were also one of the more powerful individuals in the empire for suspicions of treason and assassination. As usual he had not minced his words, and you were aware of the looks of shock on the reporters’ faces when he said these words, though he was sure to emphasise that these were  _ suspicions  _ and that nothing had been proved yet, and that investigations would start first thing on Monday, under Senior Advisor Snoke, because you were already working on an investigation. That in itself was a very loaded statement, since there were two very clear interpretations to two very different audiences, and going by how stiff the government officials in their chairs were, you knew they got the message loud and clear.

To the general public, it was pretty straightforward. The Kubricks had involved themselves in unsavoury actions and they had to be investigated since they were a threat to internal security. They were to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. For the government officials and - more importantly - the other families of the court in their homes, this meant that they had a very small window of opportunity to come forward and admit any wrongdoing they had indulged in in the recent past. If they didn’t and they were discovered to be involved in any of these messes, then they would most likely end up being executed. There would be no compromises here.

What was constantly in your mind, however was what Finn told you when you asked him about the history of the noble families. In retrospect it made sense, going by their general behaviour and the patterns and habits they had displayed over the years, but it was truly something else altogether to listen it from the perspective of someone who has experienced it.

Apparently, the families of the court were always very competitive with each other, trying to topple each other in all aspects in their lives: personal, economic and professional to try and get in the good graces with the royal family. With exceptions these families generally never really cared about the local population - ironical, because this was the one thing that would definitely get them into the good graces of the Royal Family - and if they even bothered with them they would only be thinking about how these people can be exploited to increase their own wealth, prestige and influence.

What Finn made very clear to you was how spineless these families and their heads were. They were never loyal at all, and they were quick to betray each other when one of them got into trouble, which was probably exactly what was currently happening in relation to the Kubricks. You highly doubted they even knew what was going on. They were probably just supporting him because of the power and influence he had behind him at the time, and then immediately ditched him the second they realised he was in trouble. In all honesty he should have seen this coming if this was how they normally behaved, but pride always came before a fall.

That also explained why Kayla could only come to you and not even go to her friends. Life tends to come at you real fast when you’re a piece of shit to others.

“...and that will be the end of this announcement. We will be giving periodic announcements on how the investigation will be going as it will be private at the request of the family.”

Those words shook you out of your thoughts, deep as they were and you hoped nobody noticed. You saw the emperor turn around and leave, signifying the end of this conference, his crown levitating over his helmet as it always did, and the rest of you, being the cabinet and yourself followed him into the meeting room. There was a lot to discuss, and as you were all taking your seets you noticed there was a very glaring presence that was supposed to be there but was not.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” the emperor begun, looking at all of you, his hands crossed in front of him on the table. You wished he could take the helmet off, because all you had to gauge his mood was his voice, which was literally impossible because it was distorted by aforementioned helmet. “I apologise  for calling you to this meeting on the weekend when you should all be at home relaxing, but I have big news to tell you, news that could not wait.”

He went silent, looking around the room. You noticed the room was a lot more tense, a lot more nervous.

“The conflict in the north has stopped. I have received intelligence that the past few days there has been no violence, and it seems as though the people behind this have disappeared, left the region entirely and the air of unease  that has always been there this whole time seems to have died down. The people have slowly begun integrating themselves back in their day to day lives without worrying about any conflicts or any losses.”

The silence in the room could be sliced with a lightsaber.

“Despite all this, as you’ve noticed, Senior Advisor Snoke is missing. Multiple people have attempted to communicate with him but he is nowhere to be found. He is a very powerful Force user, so I doubt he was attacked or any harm has befallen him. I strongly suspect that he has legitimately disappeared and the coincidental time of his alleged disappearance and the stopping of the violence in the north is not lost on me, or my other advisors.”

One of the family heads literally fell off his chair. Everyone else was too stiff to even dar look in his general direction to find out if he is alright.

“Just something for you all to think of before before Monday.” He turned to you, after he was sure he had induced enough terror in these idiots. “I’d like to see you in my office tomorrow afternoon. There’s a lot of catching up we need to do concerning your investigations.”

“Of course.” You couldn’t have hidden the glee in your voice even if you’d have tried. This was getting very interesting indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know none of you care, but honestly, I hadn't realised that this is the seventeenth chapter LOL. I was so absorbed on this story that I literally lost track of how much of it I'd written. Anyway, the point of this is to tell you, if it's not obvious enough, that it's almost over. I can't give an exact number, but soon I shall be completing this. I do hope you're still enjoying it, and if there's anything you'd like me to improve on, don't hesitate to holla at me, either here or on [da tumblz](http://nutheadgee.tumblr.com/).


	18. Ominous feelings

Which Fate had you wronged in the near past for all this to be happening to you?

It wasn’t even ten in the morning yet and you already needed a drink. So much had been happening these past couple of days that you weren’t quite sure you were actually keeping track of what was properly happening anymore. You had just gotten into your office and there was already so much work to catch up on, but of course there had to be more added onto that. At this point you weren’t sure whether it was just mondays or just life coming at you fast.

It all started yesterday, when you went to meet his majesty in his office in the Palace. You had prepared very thorough synopses to show him everything about your investigation so far, but apparently it was not needed, as  _ he  _ was the one with news for  _ you.  _ As expected it was going to make your work simultaneously easier and harder, and quite frankly you didn’t know whether to be amused or angry at that.

Poe was also in there, going through a huge stack of papers. You were asked to take a seat, and the info dump started. Snoke had still disappeared, and he still couldn’t be traced. Everyone strongly suspected he was the one behind all the chaos in the north, and he was using the Kubricks. Word was that he had come to an agreement with them that the Kubricks were to manufacture some kind of conflict, instigate something or other. Snoke would organise funds and ammunition once everything else was organised, and once his majesty and the rest of his government would concentrate his efforts on the north, they would focus on toppling his regime, putting Snoke in Power, and making the Kubricks even more glorious.

Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to have thought this plan through.

As usual, they had been snobs. They had underestimated whoever they had planned to take out first, in this case you and your mother. It’s pretty obvious that they had planned this from the moment your father died, and they thought now would be the time to act. They had not realised that your father had studies them and their habits, how they would behave. He had passed this information down to you, trusting that you would use it to make proper contingency plans to protect yourselves. They had thought that they could get rid of you easily, and Snoke had automatically assumed that he could use his power to get rid of you and the Kubrick influence to hush everything up.

Alas, how things hadn’t worked out according to their plans.

Now they were in a bit of a bind. Not only had their plan terribly backfired, but now they were in trouble with the state, and they knew the punishment would be grievous. Perhaps the Kubricks would get away with their lives, but the punishment was going to be extremely severe. Snoke on the other hand might not have been able to get away with anything, since he had disappeared, apparently completely out of reach at the wrong time. Even he knew he couldn’t prove his innocence. At least the Kubricks stayed and accepted their fate.

So the current plan was to consolidate all the information that you would need for prosecution of the Kubricks and then leave it to the Royal Family to decide the punishment. After that you would embark on finding Snoke, who, due to his Force Sensitivity would be considered a dangerous individual, and the fact that he was directly involved in this insurgence in the north really wouldn’t help his case. Either way, he was in a lot of trouble.

As of yesterday, that seemed easy enough to get going. All you and Poe had to do was consolidate your information that you were already working on, connect it to the Kubrick mess that Finn had been able to find and then use ti to make the necessary prosecutions. This wouldn’t take too much time, and as you were doing this, his majesty had some members of his guard tracking Snoke down, and the moment he would be found he would have to be incapacitated and brought in for prosecution. You highly doubted he would tell you what you wanted to know, but you truly didn’t think that was necessary at this point.

The Fates, however, had something entirely different waiting for you.

That was the major reason you were seated in Poe’s office, telling him all of this because he was the one that was going to see the Emperor today. It was also good because he said he had something to tell you too, which you thought was very interesting. Either way, you had to figure out how to deal with this mess at this instance.

“What’s the matter? You look particularly shaken today.”

You sighed. “ A lot. This is going to take a while.” You paused, thinking of how you were going to start,  _ where  _ you were going to start because there was a lot to unpack. “Hux came into my office this morning, claiming that apparently he had important information to tell me, especially in regards to this whole investigation and Snoke. I almost kicked him out - this wasn’t the first time he’d pulled this kind of stunt - but for some reason, some instinct or other told me to listen to him, so I did. He...confessed a lot of things to me.”

You had been looking at the papers in front of you, so you took this opportunity to risk a glance at him. He was attentive, but you could see traces of shock and incredulity. You couldn’t blame him. It had been a wild two hours. “Good or bad things?” he asked, eyeballing you.

“It really depends on whose perspective if I’m being honest, but I could say it’s good for us and bad for him.”

“This is gonna get messy, isn’t it?”

“Hux claims - and I have reason to believe him - that Snoke is the one behind this whole mess. He is the one that came up with the idea of going to the communities in the north and using deceitful propaganda that the state doesn’t care for them. He, for some reason, managed to convince them that everyone else wanted them to stay disenfranchised and in poverty, that they were going to come back and tell them to relinquish everything they owned if they wanted to continue being protected by the state. He was telling them that I and the other advisors had managed to convince the Emperor that they should all be wards of the state because they were never indigenous members of this country, so they were a burden and should be treated as such. Despite everything and despite the fact that they were some of the most recognised and beloved members of the empire Snoke managed to persuade them that they were hated and if they refused to corporate we would carry out a genocide.”

Poe did not look amused in the least. In fact you could say he was outright disgusted, but you weren’t done yet.

“It was then that he took this opportunity to figure out that he could ally with the Kubricks, the most powerful family in the empire after the Royal family. The deal was that they would ally with him, lend him their funds and their connections to help topple the emperor, his family and his allies, and in return they would become the new royal family with him as their lead advisor. The Kubricks, ever greedy and always feeling cheated out of the Emperor’s chair, agreed. This is the point where they decided to ask Jayce to use this Sean kid, a truly brilliant operative if his records are anything to go by and ask him to go back and talk to his family, considering how revered he is in his community, if they can work with the Kubricks and Snoke, ask them if they can talk to everyone else to help play their part in toppling this corrupt and evil and government and usher in a new dawn under new rulers.”

Poe looked like he had smelt acid. The way his face had grimaced showed a combination of disgust, anger and disbelief, and if you were being perfectly honest, you couldn't believe it yourself. You felt like you were reciting something out of a fictional book.

“I too have some interesting information to give you, as you’re aware. I’m very surprised Hux reached out to you, taking time out of his day and risking quite a bit to come to your office and tell you this face to face. He also reached out to me, but for some reason he chose to send me an email, and I find that particularly curious, but that’s not the point right now. In the information he told me, he said he just strongly suspects but he’s not entirely sure. He says that he told the Kubricks to try and talk to you, see if you could put in a word for them to the emperor to be forgiven, since at this point he holds you in much higher regard than any of the other advisors. I’m not sure whether or not that happened, but going by how Snoke has disappeared, I doubt that went well for him either way.”

You leaned forward. This was getting wilder and wilder by the minute.

“I was just wondering if the Kubricks ever got in touch with you. Everyone is well aware how much they despised you.” 

You nodded. “They did. They sent their daughter to try and talk to me. I told her there was probably no hope for them and she didn’t take it very well, but I was concerned because unlike her family, I knew what the consequences were of lying. I never bothered following up on whether or not she told her family, because as you said they despise me.”

It was silent for a moment before Poe decided it would be a good idea to inform the emperor of this course of events as soon as possible. It was most likely gonna be a long day, and you really weren’t looking forward to it.

…

His majesty looked at the two of you like you had grown three heads each.

“Hux...got in touch with you and confessed all of this.” It was supposed to be a question, but his tone was so dry and flat it ended up sounding like a statement. You could hear how deadpan he was through his modulator, which was really something.

You and Poe both nodded. Kylo looked away from you, facing his folded hands on the table. “If he knows this much detail, then there’s a high probability he’s also involved somehow, not to mention this Sean kid was definitely manipulated into this. Fuck.”

You were all silent. Kylo looked up at both of you.

“We’ll continue with our current course of action. We’ll continue looking for Snoke, and the second we find him we’ll bring him in for questioning. I have a discussion to have with Hux and Sean. Salama, follow me. You’re required as a witness.”

It was gonna be a long day.

…

You were expecting this particular turn of events to be serious and sombre, but things had gone left real quick. At first it started off as incredulous, but it had devolved into incredulously hilarious real quick and for the past ten minutes you were wondering exactly what kind of realm you were living in and if you were truly being paid enough for this.

The answer, just to confirm, was no., but anyway.

Kylo had led you to the cabinet meeting room, where he normally met his advisors and heads of families of the court to discuss public policy. He then called for Hux, who, surprisingly had appeared rather promptly. Honestly speaking, you thought that he was a lot braver than you previously gave him credit for, or maybe it was just self perseverance. He knew he was done for either way, so might as well just surrender and hope that his punishment wouldn’t be as severe. You never thought it was really anything like him, but every human being was absolutely terrified of the unknown that was death, and Hux, like everyone else, was just like the rest of you, a normal human being.

He didn’t wait to be prompted. The moment he sat down he just vomited everything,  going through the whole plan and how Snoke had been planning to use the Kubricks and their allies to consolidate power for himself, pretty much what he had told you and Poe. As expected, the end game was him in control of everyone and everything, intending to destroy the Kubricks completely when he thought he had consolidated enough power to do so. The Kubricks, every inch as greedy but significantly more stupid, hadn’t recognised this, or there was even the possibility that they knew what Snoke was up to but were confident that they could crush him before he could crush them. Either way, this whole plan was motivated predominantly by greed on both sides, and predictably, it ended up a mess.

Then, Sean was brought it. He was young, and probably didn’t understand the depth of his manipulation. He was exceptionally remorseful through this whole mess, and for the most part he seemed to be in deep contemplation. He was an intelligent kid, and the moment he realised in just how much deep shit he was in, he, like Hux, had resigned himself to his fate, and it seemed like he had accepted his punishment. He admitted to being too embarrassed to get in touch with his village, since he felt like he had failed them due to greed. He broke down in the washroom, because when he came back his eyes were red and puffy, evidence that he’d been crying. He corporated, however, and gave truthful information, and you all knew that his information would help with your investigation. You made a mental note to talk to Kylo about pardoning him at the very least. He was only looking after the wellbeing of his people, and it shouldn’t be put against him for not understanding at the time that his methods were wrong. His heart was in the right place, but the execution was what was off.

Of course, to top off the day there was the Kubricks. What was a shitty day without the Kubricks? Thomas himself, who had miraculously become better, came round, asking to know what was going on. Kylo, in a show of pure pettiness, told you to go address him and inform him because of his family’s suspension he wasn’t privy to this information. Predictably, he threw a fit, demanding to know what was going on anyway, because his suspension did not strip him of his noble status. He was still a Kubrick, and it was his right.

So he was taken into the interrogation and asked, in no uncertain plans about his plans with Snoke. You have never seen blood drain from someone’s face so fast. The man literally looked like a ghost. He immediately went silent, and quietly asked if he could go back home. Kylo allowed him too, which, predictably terrified him more.

Things were about to get ugly.


	19. The end is here

It had been about three weeks, and you knew this thing was coming to a conclusion soon, which was long overdue in your honest opinion. For one there was nothing too wildly out there for once. It was something you expected, and perhaps the only thing that mildly surprised you was that it happened a little bit faster than any of you expected.

You were in your office, going through the paperwork that the state prosecutor had come up to prosecute the Kubricks and going through the most likely pardon of Sean when you got a phone call from the office of the emperor. Apparently Snoke had been spotted in the North, and it was said that he was in the house of Sean’s parents, who were, in turn, contacted and told to keep him there because he was under arrest. They had the sense not to tell him anything, and it was Finn who was told to go get him, since he was a powerful Force user and could subdue him if he thought of any wise ideas. You had also gotten the knowledge that his parents were never informed of the problems of their son, but you knew it was inevitable. That, however, wasn’t the issue now.

You knew Finn was powerful and that he definitely had the ability to bring in Snoke, but you also  _ knew  _ Snoke. He was reasonably expecting the empire to send a powerful Force user against him and you knew that he would take all possible precautions to ensure that he would make things as difficult as possible to be found, particularly because at the moment any government officials or allies were considered  _ persona non grata  _ by the current residents there right now.

So it did come as a major surprise to you when you were promptly informed that Snoke had been caught and that he was in the interrogation chambers and that you should go to your office conference room and observe it. Your were to tell nobody of this, and neither were you to go to any of the interrogation rooms. Oh boy...this was gonna get real messy.

When you put on the screen to say that you were shocked at what you saw would be the understatement of the year. You knew there were going to be precautions that would be taken, but this was well beyond what you were expecting. First of all going by the room that was being used you knew this was a very classified interrogation, and the only people outside that room that knew what was happening were you and whoever else was watching (which, according to the message you received on your holopad was Poe Dameron). Secondly, the only people that were currently around the room where all either members of the royal family or very trusted members of the families of the court - all of whom were Force sensitive.

Clearly they weren’t taking any chances at all.

Kylo as well wasn’t even bothering to pretend. He had taken off his helmet and his crown, and he looked grim. He took a deep breath - you could tell by the way his shoulders heaved - before he walked into the room, closing the door behind him and walked up to the opposite end of the small, metal table Snoke was seating at. You also noticed that Snoke wasn’t restrained or held back in any manner. He simply sat in the chair, disfigured face not showing any emotion, as he stared right up at Kylo.

“I won’t waste more time than I really have to here. I already know everything about your plan, how you executed it and how you planned it to work out. What I  _ do  _ want to know is why you chose to drag an innocent young man into this mess with the sole intention of leaving him out to dry eventually.”

Snoke never said anything, just stared up at him, eyeballing him for a moment. Kylo never dropped eye contact, and stared right back. It was a tense couple of seconds, before the old man dropped his gaze first. It seemed as though the thension had slightly reduced, but then Kylo spoke. 

“Well? Being quiet is really not going to do anything to reduce your punishment. We both know this, so you might as well just answer my questions so that we can both get out of here. The faster we do this, the better for me and the rest of the empire. You I don’t really care about, because you’re going to die anyway.”

At that, Snoke’s head perked up. “Die?” His voice was rougher than normal. He sounded like his lungs were being scratched by rusty, metal nails.

Kylo raised an eyebrow. “You literally committed treason. I honestly don’t know why you asked that question.”

Snoke looked back at his hands, fiddling his thumbs. You never thought you’d see the day. “I only wanted what was best for everyone.”

“By committing treason and attempting to instigate a civil war? I know your expertise is public policy but history has shown that that has never been the most optimal route. And that’s not even the worst thing you’ve done.”

Snoke said nothing. You found it very suspect that he was being this passive. You didn’t know why but you just had a very foreboding feeling that something bad was going to happen involving him in the near future. He was never normally like this, even to the emperor. He always had a response to everything, always ready to snark and even if it wasn’t verbal he was always ready to show his disapproval in some way or even threaten you if he thought you were being far too mouthy.

“You still haven’t told me why you decided to involve an innocent in your machinations.” Still he was silent. It looked like he wasn’t going to talk. He knew he was going to die and he had every intention of going to the grave with whatever plans he had cooked up.

“Very well then,” Kylo said, walking towards the door. “It seems that we’ll have to get this information  from you by force.”

He was opening the door to walk  out when Snoke called out to him, telling him to stop. It was supposed to be a yell, but instead it sounded like a slightly louder croak. You wondered in exactly what conditions he was found in to warrant him sounding this weak, this helpless. Kylo nonetheless stopped and turned to him, closing the door.  Everyone outside could hear everything that was happening in that room anyway. He walked back to the chair opposite Snoke and took a seat, his gloved hands clasped in front of them both on the table, telling him without words he could start talking.

“I wanted to get rid of Oreno’s family.”

“You and many others apparently. You could have just gotten in queue becau-”

He seemed to suddenly stop, pausing for a moment, before rolling his eyes then promptly closing his mouth, gesturing for Snoke to continue.

“That goddamned general rose to fast in the ranks. He didn’t deserve to be general. He never deserved any of those accolades and the recognition he got. I was the one that was supposed to receive them It was  _ I  _ that was supposed to be so revered and trusted by the first emperor.” You could literally hear the jealousy dripping from his words.

Kylo, however, was very calm. “On what grounds?”

Snoke, again, was quiet. Your brain was going on overdrive. You felt like he was putting on a front, because he was acting very weird, very uncharacteristic. This wasn’t like him at all. You knew he was weak, but you really, truly wondered what the circumstances were to him seeming so speechless all of a sudden.

“He was never Force sensitive. He was never a member of an important family. He just rose the ranks and suddenly became important in the govern-”

He paused, staring at Kylo as he laughed his ass off. He was literally  _ guffawing _ , one arm around his stomach as he was bent over forward, the other one against the wall, supporting himself. Snoke’s normally beady eyes were widened, his mouth slightly ajar as he stared at Kylo, who at this point was tearing because of how hard he was laughing.

“You are so entitled, Snoke. Frederick didn’t deserve his position because he didn’t have the connections or the natural ability, he just worked his way to the top, literally. People are never supposed to work their way to the top, to showcase their skills and prove to the important position that they actually have the skill set to perform certain tasks. No matter how able and capable they are they are supposed to stay below you, you who are either nobles or blessed with the ability to temporarily manipulate the force.”

Snoke opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again, those tiny eyes through the scarred and disfigured face looking incredulously at the emperor. Kylo, in turn, just raised his eyebrow at him, as if daring him to deny the truth of what he’s just been told. Again, he had nothing to say. You were wondering, at this point whether all this was a dream or some weird kind of fantasy. What a time to be alive.

“It’s no wonder you are all mediocre and so entitled. You think just because you have a special ability or you were fortunate enough to be born into a high socioeconomic status everything should be handed to you on a silver platter, and that those that do it have no right to demand they be acknowledge, because why should they take the glory for their hard work when there are people like you, people who are  _ inherently better than them.” _

You could literally hear the pure venom and hatred that dripped from the last words he uttered, the disgust so blatant that Snoke actually winced. Kylo was clearly not here to take any hostages. He was going right in, not sparing Snoke at all.

“Which is why you were so jealous and angry that we as the Royal Family chose to have Oreno’s daughter take over his post after he passed away, instead of whatever puppet you had in mind. You thought that I couldn’t see through your bullshit and that I was too young to properly rule. Why do you think I kept you around? My mum, uncle and grandfather knew exactly what you were all about, ans we were just waiting for the proper opportunity to completely get rid of you. We knew it was gonna be difficult, but with time and patience we knew you would ultimately clown yourself and we really weren’t wrong, and now here you are, unintentionally outing yourself. Greed truly is going to be mankind’s biggest downfall, huh?”

Snoke at this point looked even more sickly than before when he was initially brought into the interrogation rule, which went to say just how sickly he looked before. If he looked white as paper before, right now he looked white as whipped cream.

“So you decided to collaborate with the Kubricks. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I suppose greed recognises greed. You had a similarity in that you both despised Oreno and his success, and you both wanted to get rid of them all, so you planned to poison him, then deal with his family later when you thought they would be  _ vulnerable,”  _ he said, the last word falling from his lips sarcastically. Snoke at this point was slightly trembling, but it might have been your eyes playing tricks on you.

“This is man who was killed by his pressure because he was constantly working for the betterment of the empire. He risked his own life for the sake of the people he felt he was responsible for, but just for the sake of your own greed you chose to ignore all of it and try and paint him in a bad life. You thought he was such an idiot like yourselves and that he wouldn’t be onto you and make contingency plans to ensure that everything he had worked for would succeed him. You’re despicable, quite frankly.”

Snoke just about might have been transparent at this point. Kylo was walking out of the cell. “You might as well sit here and contemplate your life as we contemplate your punishment. God knows you need to pay for all the billshit you’ve put multiple people through, from all those families in the north, to Sean and his family, and to the late Frederick’s family.”

The cell went dark when Kylo walked out. Welp.

…

You sighed for just about the thirtieth time in ten minutes.

It turned out that Snoke on the run had not treated himself very well, which was understandable since he was on the run. It also never helped that Sean had informed his parents of everything that happened to him, which was a good thing because it meant that none of you got to do that, selfish as it sounded. He had also informed them that it was in no way, shape or form the state’s fault, taking the entire blame himself and saying that he had been taken advantage of and that he should have been more vigilant. He informed his parents that the state had taken good care of him and they were still debating his punishment, and that he was not out of a job yet, and that he was doing okay.

You were glad when you heard that. You remembered having talked to Kylo about pardoning Sean, because after all he had been manipulated and he was only trying to act in the best interests of his people - something a reasonable young person of his age would do in the circumstances - and not only had he taken it upon himself to tell the truth when he realised just far deep this whole mess went and how out of the loop he was, he had been very cooperative and had accepted whatever punishment would be coming to him. The punishment committee had decided he would go one month without a salary, but he would still be expected to do all his duties and obligations and would still have his benefits ongoing. You thought that was a fair enough assessment.

What was bothering you, however was the Kubricks. They had been extremely quiet in the past couple of days, and knowing them, you were sure they would have reacted in some way if they knew Snoke had been caught, and they would be trying to day or do something to save their asses to try and get back into the emperor’s favour. They were always ass suckers too, particularly when they knew it would be something to increase their power and influence.

Honestly, you wanted to take a break, especially after Snoke’s debacle the previous day, but after your datapad was screeching at you to look at not one, but  _ two  _  emergency messages. It was on standby, so you really couldn’t see the exact content of the messages, but that feeling of deep trepidation you had yesterday during the interrogation returned, beginning from the pit of your stomach and spreading throughout the rest of your body. With shaking hands you put on the screen and your eyes widened at what you were reading, before you opened your mouth to scream but no sound came out. All you could do was watch your tablet clatter quietly on your carpeted floor, still staring at the horrifyingly shocking words plastered on it, promptly informing you that Snoke was found dead in his cell early in the morning, having bled out from a slit throat, and the Kubricks were all found dead in their mansion, most likely from poison going by the foam at their mouths.

Oh boy.


	20. The crown finally calls

You were definitely not being paid enough for this.

You had seen this cell from a computer screen, and as ominous as it looked it was even worse in reality. It was cold and dark, with metal walls and nothing but a tiny bed, a thin blanket, and a tiny loo and sink in the corner. At the foot of the bed was a suitcase with Snoke’s possessions, looking ridiculous in it’s luxurious material contrasted against the bare, dare I say squalid look of the cell.

The cell, whoever, ain't what made your stomach churn. There were streaks of blood on some parts of the wall, and there was still a pool of blood on the chair that Snoke was sitting on when he was killed, which had dripped to the ground. The clothes he was wearing when in prison were also in a small pile, by aforementioned pool of blood. You felt sorry for whoever that would be cleaning up that mess.

You had come in slightly earlier with His Grace Finn and Her Grace Rey, when they were removing the body, Snoke’s body, from the cell, and it was, to be blunt, an ugly site. His throat had been slit open, from ear to ear, and from how jagged the cut was, gaping open, the edges a sickly yellowish colour caked in dried blood, it seemed like it was done with a blunt object. The person who did this had clearly done it to cause maximum pain, which was almost as miraculous as it was cruel, since apparently nobody had noticed, due to the fact that no noise had been made at all.

Snoke’s facial expression, for the split second that you saw it before the mortuary officials closed his eyes and put him in a body bag, gave you somewhat of an idea of the agony he had gone through. His dark eyes, thought tiny and beady, were always sharp and calculating, were blank, looking like they were staring into vacant space, his mouth slightly agape, some drool flowing from the side of his mouth. His skin, normally pale had turned a disgusting greyish colour, looking like a child had coloured his face in.

You wondered who had killed him. Very few people knew Snoke was being held in here, and fewer still knew how to get in here, a very difficult task because this particular cell was made to hold Force sensitive prisoners. It would have been interesting to know more about this, but this wasn’t your job at the moment. You had other things to focus on, like the Kubricks.

You didn’t even know why you visited that cell, you thought as you walked over to the Kubrick estate. Probably morbid curiosity, and to confirm that Snoke was truly dead. The good thing about this whole mess was that you were not dealing with the cremation and the division of his assets, which were all going to the state because he had no next of kin to inherit it.

The estate was eerily calm. There was a slight breeze, and it made the place look like everything was normal, like there was no family that was dead inside the huge mansion. This mess was yours to clean up this time, and the irony wasn’t lost on you. You wondered what they would think when they would realise that it was you in charge of their cremation and cleaning up this mess they had decided to create due to selfishness.

A post mortem had already been done on all four of them, and it turned out they had all died via suicide. They had all swallowed cyanide pills, and you all pseculated they had done it out of humiliation. They had probably realised that they had gone a little bit too far this one time, and for once their generational wealth and influence couldn’t save them. Manipulating individuals and institutions is one thing, but treachery is a whole other ballgame altogether. Consequences of all their actions had finally caught up to them, and they were too cowardly to deal with them, so they took the shortcut out. Even in death you mocked them, because honestly, they made this way too easy.

Investigations had already been done on the Kubrick’s bodies, and you had received quite a bit of information back. It was clear that the poisoning they did to themselves was all voluntary. There seemed to be no force that was applied to any of them. It’s like they all decided to take a seat and pop some cyanide pills.

You went to do some explorations in their main office, and you found a lot. Thomas’ notes indicated that they had been planning this for a long time. You honestly wondered why you never had access to these notes from before, but you took them, deciding to go back to your office and have a proper look at them. You walked around the rest of the estate, trying to find something else that would be of value to you. It was quiet, almost peaceful even. All the workers had apparently been released a day before the suicide, which explained why nobody had known what was going on for the longest time, until Phasma sent her Royal Guard in there to have a look and they came back with the information.

You honestly wondered what the state was going to do with this estate. You knew all the Kubrick assets outside their property would be liquidated and would contribute to the general infrastructural development of the empire, but you heard some people say they would keep the residence standing, and maybe make some good use of it. That wasn’t your problem though, you thought, walking back out. You had work to do and you needed to get back to your office to do it.

…

God this family was such a mess.

You were going through the late Thomas’ notes and from what you could tell things had gone from greed to delusion in a very short time span. You truly wanted to laugh but you couldn’t bring yourself to, incredulous as things had gotten. It was unfortunate, honestly, what they had become. You had read the checklist he had drawn up, from the very first meeting he had with Snoke, to the end when he would watch Snoke being coronated as the new emperor. In between he had talked about all the assassinations they would have to commit, and all the ‘loose ends’ he would need to ‘tie up’. This included, but was not limited to assassinating thw entire royal family, you and your mother, and some entire families of the court - families, you noticed, whose heads were constantly holding him accountable for the things he either did or didn’t do, and in particular families that called him out for his greed and the interests of his family at the expense of everything and everyone else. He was literally talking about slaughtering up to about eighty people, and he had written all these things down like a shopping list, like errands he needed to run. It made your skin crawl, how he had ticked the boxes at the beginning of these sentences, with some of them having stars, which you thought indicated importance, but you weren’t too sure. You could never be too sure with the Kubricks.

He had talked about all the wealth he could amass, and alll the people that he could rule in Snoke’s stead. This man, and by extension his family had gotten so obsessed with power and prestige that he was literally willing to commit treason to ensure he tasted that power, as if he didn’t have enough power already. He had talked about using Sean to indocrinate his people in this insidious plan of him. He was well aware of how the empire valued them, and how Kylo had gone out of his way to ensure that they were accepted and comfortable in thier ways of life. For long moments there were times where your slacked jaw was covered with your palm, eyes wide and heart beating as you read over and over, these lines that this man had written down, of his plans. He was willing to use anyone and everyone in his greed, including minors, then when he was done with them he would dispose of them because they were no longer useful to him.

In between his words were a different handwriting, some added words. You couldn’t tell whose they were, but they were obviously of a collaborators. Some of the words weren’t visible, but you could make out context from what the entire document was saying. This new handwriting was talking about plans of young people in the military ‘disillusioned’ with how they were being treated by the government, and how they were willing to do thier part in the ‘radical change’. You assumed, perhaps right, perhaps wrong that this was Jayce’s handwriting, telling his father of his plans to recruite Sean and his colleagues. You doubted he knew that most of these young people lost thier lives for this cause. You also doubted they cared.

As you went on with the notes, you noticed something else. The writing was worse, more scribly, as if the person was in a hurry. When you read through them, you noticed a tone of absolute anger, brought about mostly by frustration. The list that was written earlier also seemed to be roughly scribbled over with red ink, and there were a lot of ‘CANCELLED’ and ‘POSTPONED’ also in red, written at the ends of these sentences, and this is about the time that Sean and his buddies were brought in for questioning and things were beginning to go a little awry for Snoke, Thomas and Co.

It got to a point where everything just stopped. There were no more notes and there was no more progress of everything that was going on, and you supposed that this was where it concluded. This was when everything led up to Snoke being busted, his arrest, his murder and the Kubricks’ suicides. How the mighty had fallen.

You finished going through these notes, and you closed the notebook,  just staring at it. Somehow it shouldn’t have amazed you that you knew more about this family from a couple of pages in a notebook that you ever could have hoped to know with your few interactions with them but here you were. You were wondering whether it would be worth it to give this book to the emperor or not when you got a notification on your datapad. The cramation of Snoke and the Kubricks was going to be happening in two days. It was not obligatory for you to go, but as a high ranking public servant, you were supposed to know.

Some things were better dying with their owners.

…

It had been three whole years since the alleged coup, as it had come to be known, had happened. The Kubricks and Snoke had gone down in the short history since thier respective deaths as traitors, and their names were only said in hushed whispers. The Kubricks’ extended family had gone on with their lives, pretending like they had never existed. You knew they had extended family, but you weren’t aware that they were in the empire, assuming that they had all been married oway to other kingdoms. It turns out that they Kubricks were so insufferable that very few wanted to be associated with them. It just went to show how deluded they as a whole had become, or maybe it was Thomas’ delusion that had gotten to the whole family. You wished you could feel sorry for them, but they truly had it all coming. Actions did have consequences after all.

You remembered after that whole mess talking to your mum. Kylo had given you and Poe some much needed time off, because everyone knew you needed it. Your mum also finally felt safe enough to return home, much to the unending joy of the rest of the villagers. Both of you decided that you would just spent this time relaxing and having a good time, just doing everything else except thinking about your job.

It wasn’t long after returning to work that the Arch Duchess and her husband invited you both over to the Royal Palace for dinner. You were too surprised that the Arch Duchess’ husband was around to even say no, so you accepted, and the appointed evening found you in the dinning room, with a mischeivous Rey and FInn giggling every couple of sends, as the Arch Duke told them to keep it down and focus. Kylo was there too, uncharacteristically quiet, and it is that alone that made you realise most, if not all of the people sitting on this table with you were scheming something. You knew they meant no ill will, but you could literally feel the mischief buzzing in the air.

You tired casually asking your mum if she knew what was going on, but she kept giving you vague answers, whihc meant she was definitely in on this too. Goddamn it. In that case you decided to just ignore everyone and enjoy your dinner. If they wanted to tell you what was going on they would. In fact you still had quite a bit of paper work to look at in the office tomorrow - 

“Well, now that we’re all here, I suppose it’s time we got on with this,” Arch Duchess Leia announced suddenly during desert, pointedly looking at Kylo. you had never seen him look this nervous before, as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, swallowing what was easily nerves as his adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

Suddenly, he turned to you, the table going very quiet, Finn and Rey looking at each other in excitement.

“I would like to ask for your hand in marriage, Salama,” he said quietly.

For a moment you just sat there, absolutely stunned, staring at your desert. Kylp, the emperor was asking you for your hand in marriage. He was asking you to be  _ his empress. _

Your mind was swimming, so mnay things happening at the same time that you found it difficult to form coherent thought. It’s not like you weren’t honoured to be his empress - who wouldn’t want to be if you were being honest - it’s just that this was all very unexpected. You knew they were schemeing something as soon as you sat down to dinner, but you honestly weren’t expecting something of this magnitude just thrown at you so abruptly.

You wondered what your father would think, what he would advise. You being the empress meant your mother having the best protection afforded to her, and as for now, that was your biggest headache. It had always been your biggest headache. As long as your mum was safe, you barely worried about anything else. Who would replace you as senior advisor though? The moment you married Kylo you were no longer eligible to hold public office, due to the conflict of interest. 

Of course you were sure they had all considered this, and you were also sure that they had excellent recommendations lined up, so you decided for the time being, not to really think about it oo much. Now, all you had to do was answer the question.

“Yes. I would love to marry you.”

It seemed the crown had called, and you were sure your parents were both very proud of you. After all, that was your main aim in life, to ensure that your parents were proud of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are folks, the end.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, the three of you that are still here. I really appreciate it.
> 
> In light of the nonsense that has been happening in fandom recently, I'm taking a break writing for SW. I donno how long it'll last, probably a couple of months, we'll see, but for now, there won't be any SW related fics from me in the near future. That being said, I might get a burst of motivation to start something, but for now, not happening.
> 
> Again, I truly appreciate the support you all have given me, and I hopw that I would have improved even more when I actually get back. Take care and Peace.


End file.
